CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FUNGAL KIND (HB)

Fungi produce the most expensive foods in the world but also offer the prospect of cheap protein for all. They cure disease, and they both cause disease and kill. They are the specialists to beat all others, and their diversity thrills and bewilders. Professor Richard Fortey has been a devoted field mycologist all his life. Here he addresses questions including: what are fungi? Why did their means of reproduction escape discovery for so long? And what role do they play in the development of life?