The boom in 'shrooms shows no signs of stopping, and fungi have been popping up all over the place lately. They’re making news in unexpected ways, too. This past week, mushrooms appeared at the Glastonbury music festival—and not in the way you might think—while also being featured across the pond at a historic psychedelics conference. 

At Glastonbury, mushroom mycelium (a.k.a. fungi roots) served as a core building material used in the 6° pavilion. Erected in the legendary electronic music field Silver Hayes, the groundbreaking structure was designed to showcase sustainable alternatives to commonly used materials that are harmful to the planet. And to further demonstrate the versatility and appeal of fungi roots, exhibitions inside the 'shroom-based pavilion displayed a number of additional mycelium applications through innovative installations that included hexagonal, circular, and triangular-shaped mycelium blocks. 

“Creative industries rely heavily on polystyrene—a wasteful and environmentally damaging material—due to its great versatility," says biomaterial specialist Leksi Kostur. “The 6° project aims to challenge this practice by showing the potential of mycelium as an alternative, in-situation. Through the construction of this sculptural installation, we have discovered numerous ways of manipulating mycelium to achieve varying creative results, from abstract to hyper-realistic.”

Though the festival has now concluded, 6° will continue to serve a purpose. Carbon data will be collected from the site in order to gather more information on how durable this eco-friendly alternative material is over time. A short film about the project is also forthcoming. 

Meanwhile, mushrooms of a different ilk were featured prominently at the Psychedelic Science Conference held in Denver last week. The event was hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and featured a number of speakers, including former Texas Governor Rick Perry, current Colorado Governor Jared Polis, National Institute of Mental Health Director Joshua Gordon, How to Change Your Mind author Michael Pollan, football star and psychedelics advocate Aaron Rodgers, musician Jaden Smith, and others. Reportedly the largest event of its kind in history, the conference drew more than 11,000 attendees, and sessions covered everything from neuroscience to legalization and integration to the ethics of commercialization.

Want to read more 'shroom news? Check out the latest from Rolling Stone, “The Battle for the Future of Psychedelics,” and The Wall Street Journal, “Magic Mushrooms. LSD. Ketamine. The Drugs That Power Silicon Valley.”