You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Hey Shortwaavers, Regina Barbara here with my co-host Emily Kwong.

Yes, it is October, which means it's Halloween season, and we are kicking off the month with a story about death.

Oh, but it's also kind of about life. It's about the lush complex kingdom known as fungi.

Also known as fungi.

Actually, either way you say it is fine.

Fungi, fungi, fungi.

That's Arturo Casa deval.

He's a professor and the chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology

at the John Hopkins School of Public Health, where he's been studying fungi for decades.

We're talking mushrooms, molds, yeast. There's fungi at top mountains in the depths of the ocean.

Over six million fungal species are believed

to inhabit planet Earth, but scientists have only identified a fraction of them.

And when it comes to fungi and human health, it's complicated.

Yeah, fungi, I mean they're the basis for life-saving antibiotics like penicillin,

but they're also capable of serious disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over 1 billion people get a fungal infection every year.

And Arturo has witnessed this up close.

He was born in Cuba, and after Fidel Castro took power, the family fled for safety in 1968,

ultimately landing in New York City where Arturo took a liking to the field of chemistry.

The universality of science... Turo took a liking to the field of chemistry.

The universality of science contrasted

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