Matt Kasson

@imperfectfunguy.bsky.social

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Matt Kasson

Some silly 'Merica millipede word problems to entertain you on this Fourth of July 🇺🇸 Brachycybe lecontii's top speed is 0.0029 mph, and one 0.0169-gram individual can push up to 6 grams. Assuming a spherical cow: 1) How long would it take a millipede to sprint across the United States? 1/2 🌿🧪

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Happy Earth Day! Because buried in that earth are trillions of baby-carrot sized insects about to haul themselves out of the ground and into the sky to sing and dance and boink and croak. 🧪 Featuring @imperfectfunguy.bsky.social! www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024...

The cicadas are coming, and some may become ‘flying saltshakers of death’www.washingtonpost.com This year’s double emergence will be a gold mine for scientists trying to unravel the many mysteries of periodical broods.

Hey that’s me! 😊 please share widely!

Climate change is making it more complicated to choose and grow plants, but hang onto your trowel -- @imperfectfunguy.bsky.social explains how gardeners can work with shifting plant hardiness zones and other warming trends theconversation.com/climate-chan...

Climate change is shifting the zones where plants grow – here’s what that could mean for your gardentheconversation.com The US Department of Agriculture has updated its plant hardiness zone map, which shows where various plants will grow across the country. Gardeners should take note.

Super excited to share our first lab paper of 2024! This work, published online ahead of print in Mycologia, is the hard work of former post-doc @lovettbr.bsky.social & former undergrad Hana Barrett! 🧪 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Fresh culture of Penicillium vulpinum from the lab!

Are your rhododendron buds looking hairy & necrotic? If so, say hello to the plant pathogenic fungus Seifertia azaleae! This ascomycete fungus infects azaleas & rhododendron.

Was is Kierkegaard or Thoreau who said “I went to the woods because I wished to smash puffballs deliberately….and see if I could not learn what it had to teach…” 🍄🧪

Well half the people on X said this was a Black racer while the other half called it a black rat snake. I don’t know snakes 🐍 but thought y’all would appreciate this beautiful reptile I saw warming up in a tree here in West Virginia this morning!

I thought I was just growing another filamentous ascomycete then I made the mistake of zooming in 👀! They are not of this world! 🍄🧫🧪

The Dutch word for the trembling crust fungus (Phlebia tremellosa) is apparently Spekzwoerdzwam, which according to Google translate means bacon rind mushroom. I agree with this visually appropriate translation! 🍄🧪

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Oh hello there #mycorrhiza BlueSky - the ICOM12 website just went live. Bookmark it, and put the relevant dates in your diary! Hope to see you in Manchester next year 🍄🧪🌾🌎 icom12.org

ICOM12icom12.org

Of course I forgot the 🧪!

It’s been a remarkable few days in the woods here in West Virginia for mushroom 📸 & foraging! Here’s some of the highlights!

Hard to miss the striking beauty of Cristulariella fungal leaf spots! 🍄🍃🟤🧪

Inky cap mushrooms including the shaggy inky cap (Coprinus comatus; 📸) are known for a unique trait called auto-digestion or deliquescence, where gill tissues and spores liquify as the mushrooms age giving onlookers the impression they are melting! 🍄🧪

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This image is a perfect representation of why I've lost interest in academia. Everyone is expected to do three different jobs simultaneously, and I have no desire to do that to myself. I don't disagree that most of these things are very important for *someone* to do, but it's too much for one.

A helpful and all-too accurate visualization of academic life by Dr. Susan Wardell.

News of WVU’s “Academic Transformation” has died down. 43% (9/21) of the faculty in my unit (Div. of Plant & Soil Sciences) are being fired & we will learn our fate by next Friday (10/13). The idea of losing ≈50% of my colleagues / friends (or 100% if I’m RIFed) by next summer is devastating!

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A rotting jack o'lantern isn't spooky -- it's just gross. WVU's @imperfectfunguy.bsky.social explains how to avoid this ghastly fate. theconversation.com/how-to-keep-...

How to keep your jack-o'-lantern from turning into moldy, maggoty mush before Halloweentheconversation.com Don’t let microbes and insects turn your Halloween masterpiece into a horror show before the big night.

The audible gasp when you see the the underside of the hexagonal-pored polypore (Neofavolus alveolaris)! 🍄🤯🧪

Happy October 🍁 friends! Don’t forget to get outside and enjoy this incredible season! 🧪

In order to really appreciate the northern tooth fungus you have to get up close and personal with it’s teeth! 🧪

Found a patch of coral tooth fungus (Hericium coralloides) earlier today at WVU’s Animal Science Farm woodlot here in Morgantown, West Virginia! Guess I know what we are eating for dinner! 🧪

What fungi are popping up in your backyards and forests so far this fall? 🧪

Fall is definitely here in West Virginia! Great to see so many fungi showing their lovely faces! 🧪

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PSA for scientists submitting or reviewing grants: in case of a government shutdown, federal run websites including NIH commons may not be accessible so download all the files you need before Oct 1

Spotted this pride of resinous polypores (Ischnoderma resinosum) while taking my General Plant Pathology undergrads on a disease walk through Core Arboretum. Fall is definitely here 😍🍄! 🧪

These moldy Twinkies cost me $78 at Newark Airport. This is why Americans think the economy is terrible.

TGIF? Not quite here at West Virginia University where our BOG just voted to eliminate 143 faculty positions & 28 academic programs incl. ~20 positions across WVU Davis College & 9/21 (43%) of faculty from the Div. of Plant & Soil Sciences where I am housed. I’m gutted & so our department. #WVU

Found a epizootic of Pandora sp. (Entomophthorales) on blow flies for the 3rd year in a row atop Spruce Knob, West Virginia’s highest peak! Don’t you worry, I sampled it sufficiently & we already generated a low coverage metagenome for this population from a previous collection! 🪰🍄🧪

Ecstatic to be named a 2023 SPUN Underground Explorer to investigate threats chytrid fungi pose to AMF across eastern U.S. barrier islands! My lab & w/ help from @drrabern.bsky.social & others will map AMF & chytrid diversity & investigate their role in dune health! www.spun.earth/expeditions/...

Underground Explorerswww.spun.earth SPUN is working with local researchers to map their home ecosystems through our Underground Explorers Program.