A Science on Screen® Presentation
Presented for the National Evening of Science on Screen!
Including a pre-show presentation: Cool Mushrooms Grow in Iowa Too, Silly: Iowa’s Fungal Biodiversity, presented by Prairie States Mushroom Club
Pre and post-show music by Groundwater (Dustin Busch)
"The script is full of cool wrap-your-brain-around-them facts, which makes it great for nature-loving kids."—Cath Clarke, The Guardian
Come see FUNGI: WEB OF LIFE in 3D!!!
All life on Earth is connected by a great mystery we are only just beginning to unravel. Hidden between the world of plants and animals, another world exists. We’ll begin in the mysterious world of the forest floor, where fungi are the central players in nature’s story of birth, death, and rebirth to discover that life as we know it simply would not exist without them. Join acclaimed British biologist, Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, on a quest to find an incredibly precious blue mushroom, against the backdrop of Tasmania’s ancient Tarkine rainforest. Merlin will show us some of the grandest and strangest organisms ever discovered, showcased through jaw-dropping time-lapse cinematography, in a landscape largely unchanged from the time of the dinosaurs.
Fungi have important lessons to teach humanity about survival through cooperation. Indeed, these incredible lifeforms may hold the key to solving some of humanity’s most urgent problems. With millions more species to discover, our journey into the secret world of fungi has only just begun.
Presented as part of Science on Screen® - An initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Sarah Delong-Duhon and Art McBreen join us for a presentation and Q&A on local fungal biodiversity, including both how mycology is integral to environmental conservation, and which mushrooms we can safely eat!
Sarah Delong-Duhon is the president of the Prairie States Mushroom Club and a University of Iowa graduate. Through her research, she uncovered hidden diversity within the genus Stereum, resurrecting previously overlooked species. While she now works in clinical microbiology, Sarah is dedicated to raising awareness about the natural world and the importance of preserving it, using photography to showcase the beauty and complexity of fungi and their ecosystems.
Art McBreen was Administrative Lead for HDR Architecture’s Los Angeles office till his retirement in 2017. After traveling the country for several years, he eventually settled in Fairfield, and almost immediately became part of Iowa’s fungal community. Art joined Prairie States Mushroom Club in 2021 and is currently their Treasurer. The idea for Fungarium!, a mushroom exhibit at the Carnegie Historical Museum, came from an article he wrote about Fairfield’s Toadstool Club of the 1920s.