Explore the toxicity of death cap mushrooms, and find out what makes this one species so dangerous to humans.
Watch the video and decide if the sentences below are true or false:
1. Nero’s succession as the 5th Emperor of Rome was said to have been secured after his mother poisoned her husband with death-cap mushrooms.
2. Death-cap mushrooms are responsible for less than 10% of mushroom-related deaths worldwide.
3. Just half of a death-cap mushroom cap can be enough to kill an adult.
4. Amatoxins mainly damage the kidneys because they accumulate there first.
5. Death-cap poisoning can eventually lead to liver failure.
6. Scientists fully understand the evolutionary advantage of amatoxins for the mushroom.
7. If treated quickly, about 90% of patients can survive death-cap poisoning.
8. A special antidote is required to treat death-cap poisoning.
9. Severe symptoms of amatoxin poisoning often appear days after ingestion.
10. The best advice for mushroom foragers is: when in doubt, throw it away.
Key: 1T; 2F; 3T; 4F; 5T; 6F; 7T; 8F; 9T; 10T
Glossary
forager – a person or animal that goes from place to place searching for things that they can eat or use
to rupture – to (cause something to) explode, break, or tear
domed – shaped like a dome (= a round roof)
to ingest – to eat, consume
intestinal – relating to or affecting the intestine (= the long, tube-shaped organ in the abdomen that completes the process of digestion)
to wreak havoc – to cause great damage
to inhibit – to restrain; to slow down a process or the growth of something
spore – one of the very small cells that are produced by some plants and that develop into new plants
dispersal – the process of sending someone or something in different directions; the process of spreading something over a wide area
to tag along – if someone goes somewhere and you tag along, you go with them, especially when they have not asked you to
to toss out – to get rid of; discard
Practice makes perfect
Fill in the gaps in the article extract with the words in bold below:
giant seed face overcome
generate frame efficient solitude distant
(…) How can Earth’s fungi help with the development of human habitats or even entire ecosystems on other planets?
[Plants that support terraforming] need minerals, and pairing fungi up with the plants and debris from humans [causes them to] decompose into a form that then creates rich soils that could help 1. ……….. the foods that astronauts need. It’s much easier to take one 2. ……… and grow your food than it is to take a ton of food to space, right? Nature is incredibly 3. …….. in terms of a payload. It’s much better for nature to generate a payload of food than for your rocket to carry a payload of food.(…)
What are some of the more fantastic ways mushrooms might be applied in space?
Well, what I can tell you? I’m sure some of your editors may go, “No way, we’re not going to publish this.” But I think using psilocybin mushrooms in spaceflight makes a lot of sense. There are more than 65 articles right now … at ClinicalTrials.gov that say psilocybin mushrooms help people 4. ……….. [post-traumatic stress disorder], loneliness and depression. Do you think the astronauts are going to have loneliness and depression and PTSD? I think yes. How are you going to help them?
Under carefully controlled conditions, our astronauts [being] able to take psilocybin in space and look at the universe and not feel 5. ……….. and alone but feel like they’re part of this 6. ……… consciousness will give them a better 7. ………. of mind—psychologically, emotionally—to work with other astronauts and stay on mission. I feel that isolation, loneliness and depression are going to be major issues that astronauts 8. ……… .
So I say this with great sincerity: NASA and anyone else working and looking at the settlement of space, you should consider that psilocybin mushrooms should be an essential part of your psychological tool kit for astronauts to be able to endure the 9. ………… and the challenges of space and isolation.
Psilocybin mushrooms build creativity; people who are more creative come up with more solutions. I think that, in a sense, is a fertile ecosystem that can lead to the sustainability of humans in space.
In order to read the whole article/check your answers, go to:
Key: 1. generate; 2. seed; 3. efficient; 4. overcome; 5. distant; 6. giant; 7. frame; 8. face; 9. solitude
Discuss
- What makes death-cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) especially dangerous compared to other poisonous mushrooms?
- Why are amatoxins so difficult to neutralize, even with cooking or freezing?
- In what ways do amatoxins affect the body’s vital systems, particularly the liver?
- Why might death-caps be mistaken for edible mushrooms, and what risks does this pose to foragers?
- What evolutionary puzzle remains unsolved about amatoxins and their role in mushroom survival?
- How have death-caps spread beyond their native European habitat, and what role did humans play in this?
- Why is early treatment crucial for survival after ingesting a death-cap mushroom?
- What challenges do doctors face in diagnosing and treating mushroom poisoning?
- According to the article, how might mushrooms contribute to the future of space travel?
- In what ways could fungi help astronauts survive long missions, such as those to Mars?
Watch and Revise!
Mushrooms
Deadly Dangers & Space Travel Wonders!
https://www.cloud.worldwideschool.pl/index.php/s/8L7TWp528XcHwAC
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