The Chinese have been eating lingzhi, or reishi, mushrooms as medicine for two millennia. However, the most commonly eaten type, known in Chinese as chizhi or red lingzhi, has for a long time mistakenly been considered by people around the world to be the same species as the European glossy ganoderma, whose Latin name is Ganoderma lucidum. After researchers collected some wild red lingzhi from an oak forest near Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province, collaborating researchers in Taiwan and China discovered that red lingzhi was actually a new fungus species that had never been recorded. Accordingly, they have officially named it Ganoderma lingzhi. Their findings have been published in Fungal Diversity, the top international journal of mycology.
Wu Sheng-hua, head of the research project and a fungus expert with the National Museum of Natural Science, says that lingzhi mushrooms belong to the ganoderma genus of the polypore family. Wu says that the annual net output value of lingzhi mushrooms is estimated to be as high as NT$100 billion (US$ 3.34 billion) globally. There are currently more than 100 known species of lingzhi mushrooms, with each species containing somewhat different substances with different effects, so more research needs to be done on them, he says.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃美珠
靈芝在華人用於養生已兩千年歷史,然而,最常食用的「赤芝」,長期被國際誤認為和歐洲的「亮蓋靈芝」同種,且都以「ganoderma lucidum」做為拉丁學名。經過學者前往湖北武漢附近的櫟樹林採集野生赤芝,兩岸合作研究發現「赤芝」竟然是尚未被記錄的新種真菌,因此正式定名為 「ganoderma lingzhi(靈芝的漢語發音)」,研究成果將刊登在國際真菌學術期刊排名第一的《Fungal Diversity》。
負責這項研究的國立自然科學博物館研究員吳聲華說,靈芝為多孔菌的靈芝科,估計每年全球產值高達新台幣一千億元,已知有一百多種不同的靈芝,不同種類靈芝的成份和功效都不盡相同,有待進一步分析。
(自由時報記者胡清暉)
Photo: George Tsorng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者叢昌瑾
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
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Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of