ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Fact of the Day (Of the Week!) - Mushroom Week!

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

On this FOTD(OTW); Vaughan delves into the secret lives of Mushrooms!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ZM Podcast Network. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. On today's Fact of the Day of the Week, fun guy Vaughn waxes and wanes his way through Mushroom Week. It's time for... Fact of the Day, Day, Day, um, this week's fact of the day theme is mushrooms. Yes. Amazing.

Amazing. I love mushrooms. Some people are like, I don't like them. Oh, when vegetarians don't eat mushrooms? Yeah, that's weird. That's like your meat. Yeah. For a video, right?

What do you eat if you don't eat meat and mushrooms? That's when you meet a vegetarian and they're like, oh, I don't eat mushrooms and I don't eat mushrooms? Yeah, that's weird. That's like your meat. Yeah. For a video, right? What do you eat if you don't eat meat and mushrooms? That's when you meet a vegetarian and they're like, oh, I don't eat mushrooms and I don't eat onions and I don't eat tomatoes. You're like, well, how are you eating a pizza? So, Karen, when you're a vegetarian. No, no, no. I love mushrooms.

Oh, good, good, good. I know you're shaking your head like you were an ingredient. No, I was shaking my head like, how do you not like mushrooms? Yeah. Yeah. They're the best. They're the best. And I don't always wash them.

I don't mind a bit of dirt in mine. I don't wash them. It adds a bit of flavour. Yeah, totally. But I love the grip. Miner mushrooms. Yeah. Yeah. Yum. They're the best. They're the best. And I don't always wash them. I don't mind a bit of dirt and lime. I don't wash them. It adds a bit of flavour. Yeah, totally. But I love the grip. Minerals. It's minerals. And then it gets in your teeth.

You're like, yeah. Yeah. So how we got onto this was Fletch said, oh my God, here's an amazing mushroom fact. Did you know magic mushrooms arrived on the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs? I see. That sounds like the percentage of somebody who is on magic mushrooms, to be totally honest. Yeah, look. I'll be honest, Vaughn.

I didn't click the link. I copy and pasted it, as we do, for a million stories every week. Yeah. And there was no research or checking of dates. Right. There was. Because we love it when Fletch proposes something and it's from 2009. Yeah. He's like, guys, breaking news.

Look, people don't know the dates. We live in a world where facts don't matter anymore. They do. They need to. They don't. Listeners, you can trust us. So it wasn't that they arrived on the asteroid. Okay.

They believe that mushrooms, which have been around for a very long time, and are neither plant nor animal. They're a fungi. They're their own, from the fungus kingdom, which is one of the biggest kingdoms. They're their own from the fungus kingdom, which is one of the biggest kingdoms. Don't tango with the fungi kingdom because it'll turn us into the last of us. It's going to kill us like the last of us.

Yeah, they reckon. The last of us will get us. So it evolved at the point in time around when the asteroid hit. So I was close. Psilocybin. Psilocybin. Psilocybin.

Psilocybin. The thing that the That the body converts And can make you Trickle balls Buzzy wuzzy Yeah so it didn't arrive On the asteroid So if you were imagining

Like a little magic mushroom Just being like Hell of a ride I'm here Just commanding an asteroid Through space Riding it Y'all ready to get funky

You guys like Seeing things that ain't for you Yeah well I'm on my way Commanding an asteroid through space. Riding it. Y'all ready to get funky? You guys like seeing things that ain't real. Yeah, well, I'm on my way. Coming through there. Amateur is like, this atmosphere might be hot for some. It ain't hot for me, baby. Let's go groovy. Boom, smashes into the earth and the spores go everywhere.

And that's how we have mushrooms. But the evolution of mushrooms that started producing the hallucinogen was around the same time as that. Right. How hard is it to grow your own, like, you know, like you buy from the supermarket for a stir fry, like your button mushrooms. It's so easy to grow mushrooms.

Because I don't know if I trust, if I had a garden, I don't know if I'd trust myself. Because what if it goes all a bit skew-iff and you end up hallucinating, watching Seven Sharp with your stir fry. What a wild drug trick. And Hilary Barry's all like

purple and has six heads. I thought the hallucination was that you were watching Seven Sharp while eating a stir fry. Like you're at work and then you're like take mushrooms and you're like whoa man Seven Sharp. And we're like no. You're juicing you're like, whoa, man. Stop it. And we're like, no.

You're inducing the magic mushrooms in your stir fry at dinner time. No. Accidentally. I always see people picking them. I think that's them. I don't know. I don't know what they look like. Genuinely.

Forages in the forest near my house. Oh, yes. It's definitely the mushroom hunters. Is it? Right. 100% mushroom hunters. Because I'll be there working on my mental and physical health on a bush walk

innocently and the people are there picking mushrooms. I assumed for a stir fry to watch, to eat while they're watching Seven Sharp. But obviously not.

But they're going for something a bit more spicy. They expected Seven Sharp to be on. They churn in at some country house hunters with Matt Gibb. Oh my God.

With a couple actually already owned the first time that he showed them. Controversy. And you're just like, grab onto the couch. It was unexpected.

So that's today's first mushroom fact of the day is they did not arrive on the... Will there be any facts this week about Smurf homes and mushrooms? Oh, maybe. I feel like that could be a good one. I looked up a lot of facts about mushrooms last night, and I found some interesting ones,

but I thought everything else was very already known about mushrooms. You got one about that? Porcini. You know the floppy flat ones? I don't know much about those, and I don't trust them. Oh, man. Shataka's some of my favorites. What are you called?

Ikinubi. What? Ikinubi. Ikinubi. Ikinubai. Ikinubi. Ikinubi. Ikinubi dog food? What are you talking about? How high are you? Man, this bag of chips never ends.

Oh, my God, you've eaten 15 kgs of Ikinubi dog food. Is that you, Hilary Berry? Is that a bad thing? Those were our people tonight. So today's fact of the day is Magic mushrooms didn't arrive on the asteroid That wiped out the dinosaurs But the time of evolution that made Mushrooms have a hallucinogen

And them is dated about the same time Mushroom week here at fact of the day I'm loving it You're a real fun guy Play ZM's Fletch Vodden Ailey Play ZM Mushroom Week here at Fact of the Day I'm loving it You're a real fun guy to do this Are we running on time? Do you need mushroom to get this done? That wasn't as good as fun guy

Leave it to the button guy Button mushroom No that sucked That was alright. Leave it to the button guy. Button mushroom. No, that sucked. Yeah, that was all right. Yeah. I remember it was a button. I remember it was a button mushroom. Oh.

It's a grey mushroom. You got any money on you or are you poor, Cheney? Oh, that sucked. That was the worst yet. I get paid on the day of the week known as ballot. Oh, hang on.

One from Jared. One from Jared. One from Jared. These puns have been shit-archy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He wins. Jared wins. Jared wins.

That was really good. Back to you. Good, good. So it's long been thought that mushrooms spread their spores by waiting for the opportune wind moments. Okay. They can almost feel the wind and they're like, now deploy port spores and drop wind moments. Okay. They can almost feel the wind and they're like, now deploy port spores

and drop them down. Yeah. It turns out they've been making their own wind all along. Sorry? They're farting. Mushrooms can make their own wind. So can I.

I know, but you're not spreading spores. You don't know that about me. Or is she? Yeah, you don't know that. Spreading spores around. Spread it all around. So they create airflow by allowing their moisture to evaporate. So they put their moisture out onto the surface.

The evaporation cools them off. And then wind always goes from hot to cold, cold to hot. High pressure system. How does wind work again? And so it creates wind movement. And so it comes in and it's got nowhere to go, so the wind goes back out. And it's at that time that they drop their own spores

and get it out into an area where wind is more likely to, the natural wind is likely to take the spores. I almost feel bad eating them. They're so smart. They're smart. They're doing a whole lot of stuff. They're so delicious, though. I'll still eat them. Yeah, I wouldn't feel too bad. You're so smart. They're smart. They're doing a whole lot of stuff. They're so delicious, though. I'll still eat them.

Yeah, I wouldn't feel too bad. Yeah, and chickens and stuff. You don't have to eat them all. Like, all mushrooms kind of do this. The ones that you shouldn't be eating. Right. Yeah, and ones that grow in, like, tight spaces, like inside tree trunks,

it can be the difference for them to get their spores out or just, you know, they kind of just get stuck in there and they can't get their spores out. Oh, wow. Yeah, so they can create their own, like, so their own like minutes here little wind gusts that can chuck their spores like four inches or just over 10 centimetres out into the ocean. And then that makes new mushrooms. Yeah.

How do you grow, like, how do you start with mushrooms? You can buy those little packs. Hey, well, let's delve into that tomorrow on Fact of the Day because to be honest, I thought there'd be a lot more facts and this would be a really easy picking week. Picking? Pun intended. But it hasn't been. Can you give us a fact of the day about why sometimes when you mow your lawn,

the next day there's mushrooms? At least it happened at my old house. You know when you mow your lawn and then mushrooms would pick up? Oh. Yeah, yeah. It was like weird. God, it sounds like you had a mouldy lawn. Must have had a mouldy lawn.

Like a yuck. Did you have an animal that did the faeces? The cat. Well, the cat doesn't faeces on the lawn. Because it'll often grow out of spots where there's been some poo. Oh, right. No, no. I used to take a couple out the back.

That'll be it then. That'll be it. That'll be it. That'll be the one. So today's fact of the day is a mushroom can essentially cause its own wind. One more from Jarrod. This fungus week has been more truffle than it's worth. That's good too.

He's good at this. He's good at this. Today's fact of the day is that mushrooms can help trees talk to each other. Oh, my God. Go ahead. It's mushroom week here at Fact of the Day. I've got them. Hooked them. You have. How do mushrooms? I talk to each other? Oh my God. Go ahead. It's mushroom week here at Fact of the Day. I've got them. Hook them.

You have. How do mushrooms- I'm utterly loving mushroom week. How do mushrooms help trees talk to each other? Well, some scientists call it the wood wide web. Just stick to science. Yeah, I reckon just- Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. I think comedy's easy. The underground network of fungus is the oldest date that can put on this 500 million years old. Okay. And it existed before the trees. The good old days. Before these trees came in and stole all our jobs.

And you could say anything. Oh, yeah. I know. Before PC went mad. Before the trees were all woke and been like, you can't say that. Yeah. Back in the good old days, the fungus existed before the trees, but when the trees came along and the underground fungus

helped them talk to each other by sharing nutrients and such. So we're thinking of a dry earth or a frozen earth. Dry earth. Are we a rock? We're a rock. Yeah, we're a rock, but we've got soil on top. We're a rock earth or a frozen earth. Dry earth. Are we a rock? We're a rock. Yeah, we're a rock. We've got soil on top. We're a rock.

We've got soil. So we're at that point. Soils, clays, all the things that things grow on. And then before trees started coming up. Giant mushrooms. There's a fungi under the ground. Yeah, giant mushrooms everywhere. Above ground, below ground.

Kind of makes me feel gross. So below ground, trees and plants will get nutrients from the fungi that are underground. They break things down that the trees can't and give them like nitrogen, phosphorus and stuff. And then in return, the trees are like, here, have some carbon-rich sugars from our roots in the tree. And the fungi's like, we like this. This is the old barter system. Oh. The good old days.

There's a market under there. There's a bit of a symbiotic relationship. Yeah. So they all give each other. Now, how they help them talk is all the fungi is all connected. So if the tree's like, here, have some of this, and the fungi might be like, I've already got enough. That tree over there is doing very well for itself.

Right. And the tree will be like, that tree, so I'll pull away. Or it can send messages of like, that tree, have some of this. Oh, I need more, I need more. Why do you need more? That tree over there is not giving me any. Why is that tree not giving me any of this, this, and this? It's dying.

How clever. Insects are attacking it. How do they talk? Like it's getting very drought. They send each other like chemical messages. They don't be like, it's not the ants. It's not the ants off the Lord of the Rings movies. Yeah, right.

They don't walk around. I guess you could call it tree mail. Tree mail. Yeah, I suppose you could call it that. I don't know if you would, though. No, I don't think you would. Tree mail? So yeah, the chemicals released by trees can tell other trees different things

by what they need from the fungus needs from them underground. And then if one of the trees is dying, are they just like, bye? They pick up and they leave. They're like, this isn't good here. And the tree will pull its roots one of the trees is dying, are they just like, bye? They pick up and they leave. They're like, this isn't good here. And the tree will pull its roots out of the ground and walk to a place where it can just die. I'm leaving. I'm out of here. This is no good for anybody.

You always say this. Yeah, you always say that. You always come crawling back. But if a tree can prepare itself for, like drought, for example, it can prepare itself a little bit better. Right. By putting more of its stock into roots than leaves, for example. Right. If it knows drought's coming, then it can prepare itself a little bit better. Right. By putting more of its stock into roots than leaves, for example. Right. If it knows drought's coming, then it can prepare itself.

Mushrooms, eh? I said this the other day, they seem too smart to be eating. Yeah, but they're so yum in a stir fry and everything, aren't they? I know. I'll eat them. Do you put them in a stir fry? Yeah. I don't mushroom in my stir fries.

Too soft. You add them like pretty close to the end, eh? Yeah, you add them to the end if you don't want add them like pretty close to the end. Yeah, you add them to the end if you don't want them soggy. Just to heat them. Nah, I'm not all about crunching a stir fry. Anyway, we're all different. To each their own.

Today's fact of the day is that mushrooms can help trees talk to each other. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. Fact of the day, day, day, day, day. Today's fact of the day is why are toadstools called toadstools? That is mushroom week and a toadstool is bingo. Dude. Wow. Mind blowing.

I thought there must have been more to it. Holy shit. What? What? So toadstools are called toadstools because. Are you running dry, hon? You bet. In middle, like oldie times, middle-aged England.

Hang on, Vaughan. Medieval times. Off-air, you have told us far more interesting facts about mushrooms that you haven't shared with the nation yet. And this is your fact of the day, is that toadstools are called toadstools because toads sit on them like stools. No, toads have never sat on them like stools.

No, there's never been a photo of a toad sitting on a toadstool. Don't Google it. Literally hundreds of photos. Those are AIs. No, they're not. That's a frog. That one's not even a toad. This is literally, there are stock images of toads on my...

Fakes. Not fakes. Oh, deep fakes. You'll believe anything, man. Suppose you believe we've been to the moon. Consider my mind blown. Toadstools are called toadstools because they look like a toad has sat on them, a toad has sat on them and given them their little warts.

Infected the toadstool with warts and toadstools were poisonous and so were toads. So they believe that the toads made the toadstools poisonous. And now I've said toad so many times, no sense left in the word. I was so lost. It's jumbled. So yeah, toadstools are called toadstools. How are they different than a mushroom?

They're not. You wouldn't eat them though, toadstools? No. But they're not all toadstools are poisonous, but don't eat them. Right. Yeah. Right. Because remember that chick made that bloody beef eat them. Right. Yeah. Right. Because remember that chick

made that bloody beef wellington. That's right. In Australia. Yeah, that's right. Killed a whole bunch of It's right. Unless we forget.

Yeah, that's right. That happened at the end of last year. Yeah, it did. What? Yeah, well there's a fact for you. Could have talked about

those mushrooms. But it's alright. We're good. It's good. Well, she might have done toadstools. She might have been like that looks like the perfect posse for a toad to sit

Yeah, tell you what I'm looking forward to tomorrow's fact of mushrooms to wrap up mushroom week It's been a real struggle for you I honestly thought mushroom week was going to be so easy, because that's such a fascinating thing, but it's been harder than I imagined

So today's fact of the day is toadstools are is toadstools are called toadstools because it is believed that toads had sat on them giving them the warty appearance

but also the perfect place for a toad to sit. Play ZM's Fletch Vaughan and Hayley. Play ZM. Get this. I've got a good one to finish on.

So it's mushroom week. Yeah. Had a bit of a midweek flop there. Just like a mushroom in the veggie drawer. I'm glad you acknowledge that. Went a bit floppy. I've got to... Maybe next time, before you commit to a week of facts...

No, that's not fun. Maybe find five facts before you commit. What if I can only find four? And then I've done all that legwork. Then it's not worth it. I'm not doing extra work for this job. Yes you will, boy. I feel like it's getting enough out of me. Right.

No. Talk to my agent. Today's fact of the day is that lightning causes mushrooms to grow and multiply up to double the amount. Why? How? If they get struck by lightning or if they just see it.

If there's heavy rain, the moisture helps. Yeah. But if it's heavy rain and a thunderstorm with a variety of lightning strikes, clusters of mushrooms will be popping out at an exponential rate, compared to just rain or neither rain nor lightning. How? Why? What's the science? Lightning-strength jolts of electricity can more than double the yield of certain mushroom species compared with conventional cultivation methods

because lightning discharges combine the nitrogen and oxygen with the rain, which carries the fixed nitrogen down to help at least with the fertilising of the soil and the reproduction. Now he's talking about science. Yes, quote unquote. Okay, so the lightning is God's fury. Now I'm here.

Yeah, and the mushrooms are the spies of the devil and that's why they can grow at night. They don't need the sunlight, which of course is the Lord's love. And they grow at night. They don't need the sunlight, which of course is the Lord's love. And they grow at night. The power of the devil! It's actually quite fascinating, isn't it? That's bizarre. It is, eh? Could you

fake lightning if you were a mushroom grower? Oh yeah. To make your mushrooms. In your little bunker grower thing. You know like they grow them for the supermarkets and, you know, the actual growers. Yeah, under life and stuff. Could they fake lightning?

And could they just flick the light so it's like an insane amount of power in a lightning bolt? Just get a laser. Yeah, because they use little lasers. Like I've got for the cat. Yeah, no, no, that's not nearly enough. I felt like it would be enough. A mushroom, like an outdoor, not like an indoor mushroom farm,

but like an outdoor field that grew mushrooms, was struck by lightning. Now, the spot that got hit killed everything. It was too much. Of course. But around it, they grew bigger and they grew stronger, and they said, mushrooms react best when exposed to a second burst of electricity

at a range of 50,000 to 100,000 volts. That causes mushrooms to give themselves a reproductive boost. Yeah, that's going to be a lot of batteries. They give themselves a reproductive boost and increase the number of fruiting bodies. Could you try that with a mushroom in the fridge? Like, you know, you put a tongue on a nine-volt battery and it's like, eh, and it tingles.

I wonder if you could just do that to a mushroom. Get the mushroom to poke its tongue out. And when you buy a little box or bag of mushrooms, just chuck a battery in. nine volt battery and it's like, and it tingles. I wonder if you could just do that to a mushroom. Get the mushroom to poke its tongue out. And when you buy a little box or bag of mushrooms, just chuck a battery in. Do you know what I mean? Surely that must work. Surely it's got to add something. Good science from you there.

Thank you. Not bad at all. So today's fact of the day is lightning strikes and thunderstorms cause mushrooms to grow and multiply. Fact of the day, day, day, day, day.