Annual Sigma Xi Researcher of the Year Lecture:
Nicholas Money: "The Four Mushrooms of the Apocalypse"

Money, the 2012 Sigma Xi Researcher of the Year, is director of the Western Program and professor of botany

As the planet warms, fungi are destroying crops and forest trees, infecting coral reefs, decimating amphibians, and exterminating bats.

Millions of tons of fungal spores swirl in the atmosphere and we suck them into our lungs with every breath.

Could these allergenic particles be responsible for the skyrocketing numbers of asthma cases?

Bring your inhaler for a bleak, depressing, and thoroughly deflating story of planetary decline sweetened by the grandeur of microbial diversity.

Presentation suitable for all ages.