Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
The lonely kingdom of fungi
Undark
“Policymakers and biodiversity institutions agree that fungi are fundamental to rich and sustainable ecosystems, but few institutions have taken direct steps to explicitly include these organisms in their policy frameworks,” writes Jonathan Moens. “As a taxonomic group, fungi are both ubiquitous and diverse … They are also largely neglected in global conservation efforts. Of the estimated 2.2 to 3.8 million species of fungi on Earth, approximately 450 have been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature for inclusion on its Red List of Threatened Species.”
Charity teaches underprivileged kids to hunt their next meal
Aeon (video)
“The San Antonio metropolitan region is one of the highest-poverty areas in the United States. Roughly one in four children living there experiences hunger. The short documentary Kids Game follows a hunting outing led by the charity City Kids Adventures, which offers outdoor excursions to underprivileged and at-risk San Antonio youth. Capturing the participants in a nonintrusive verité style, the Belgian-born, US-based director Michiel Thomas … invites the viewer to draw out and interrogate their own reactions, whether it’s alarm at the image of kids shooting animals, warmth at the teachers’ focus on ethics and growth, frustration at the children’s food poverty despite their country’s vast wealth, or perhaps more likely, some incongruous combination thereof.”
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The semi-illicit world of WhatsApp mango importing
Eater
“Although the Pakistani mango has been approved for import to the U.S. since 2010, supply chain and logistics challenges have limited it to a scant national presence, even in the specialty groceries where you might expect to find them,” writes Ahmed Ali Akbar. “As such, the vast majority of the Pakistani American diaspora are unable to procure their homeland’s national fruit easily. But for a group of internet-savvy immigrants and their children, a new option has emerged over the past few years: Middlemen and logistics experts acquire the mangoes from farms in Pakistan and sell them over WhatsApp at a premium, often only a few days after harvest.”
Is gardening in space the future of astronaut self-care?
The Counter
The extreme conditions at Neumayer Station III, a remote research station perched on Antarctica’s Ekstrom Ice Shelf, make it “an ideal setting to test the technology that could one day allow humans to grow food in inhospitable settings like the moon or Mars,” writes Jessica McKenzie. “Additionally, the extreme isolation of Neumayer Station and its residents make them ideal subjects in a study of how fresh produce could impact the well-being of astronauts during long-haul space travel.”
Resurrecting bochet
Atlas Obscura
“It starts with a cauldron, an open flame, and a good measure of raw honey. Then — double, double, toil and trouble — stir constantly until the honey spits back steam at you,” writes Gemma Tarlach. “Add water and stand back as it erupts, volcano-like. Throw in some yeast and spices and, after it ages a bit, behold: bochet, a mysterious and lost style of mead. ‘People who like rollercoasters and jumping off cliffs like bochet,’” says Susan Verberg, a scholar who has researched the ancient brew.