Floating fungi

Also: Photos from the Boston Marathon; urban renewal battle on the Merrimack River [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  April 16, 2024 ☀️ Sunny, with a high near 68. Good Morning Boston, Congrats to all the amazing runners who tackled the Boston Marathon yesterday! We'll have more on the race results below. But first, now that the show on land is over, let's turn our eyes to the sea: - Shroom boom: Nantucket is testing out an unconventional material for its buoys. The town is putting 135 new "MycoBuoys" made from mushrooms along [spat lines]( this summer. The buoys are made of [mycelium]( the root-like fungal network that is underground the fruiting body of a mushroom (aka the part you'd see on a pizza). It's a [nontoxic and compostable]( alternative to traditional plastic-based buoys. - Zoom in: Nantucket's Natural Resources Department monitors the island's commercial bay scallop fishery and supervises shellfish research for the town. Part of their work involves putting out spat collectors, which provide a hard surface for baby scallops to attach themselves and grow. "Each line of spat collectors has three buoys on it," Tara Riley, the Shellfish and Aquatic Resources Manager for Nantucket, told WBUR's Amy Sokolow. Around 150 buoys float in the harbor annually, Riley added. - So, what's the problem? "The buoys that we have are traditional styrofoam buoys, and they degrade over time, which equates to microplastics in the water ... [which] affects different shellfish processes and reproduction," said Riley. - How long will the new buoys last? Riley said they hope the MycoBuoys will last for the entire season, about five to eight months. Her department is looking forward to tracking whether their nontoxic properties improve the number of bay scallops collected this year. - Go deeper: Learn more about scientists' hopes for mushrooms [in this Here & Now segment with mycologist Paul Stamets.]( Buoys made from mycelium. (Courtesy of Nantucket's Natural Resources Dept.) - Dang, that's fast: Ethiopian Sisay Lemma took gold in the Boston Marathon men's race with a runaway finish in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 17 seconds. That's good for the 10th fastest time in the race's 128-year history. (Lemma was even on pace to set a course record after the first 13.1 miles.) And he wasn't the only one cruising across the Copley Square finish line yesterday. [Here's a look at the other winners:]( - Hellen Obiri won her second-straight woman's title, after [holding her lead in an exciting sprint down Boylston Street against fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi](. Obiri is the first woman to win back-to-back Boston Marathons since 2005. - Despite [taking a tumble in Newton]( Swiss racer Marcel Hug won his seventh Boston men's wheelchair race with ease. Hug's time — 1 hour, 15 minutes and 33 seconds — smashed the all-time course record (which he set himself last year) by 90 seconds. - British breakout Eden Rainbow-Cooper won the women's wheelchair division — her first major marathon victory. The 22-year-old is also the first woman from England to win Boston. - [Scroll through this photos post]( for a full recap of the day. (And of course, don't miss [all these]( [clever signs]( and the [special marathon-themed Make Way for Ducklings display]( - Feeling the heat: While it was a great day to watch the marathon, the warm weather was rough for those running it. WBUR's Martha Bebinger reports medical volunteers treated an estimated 2,000 runners primarily for heat-related reasons, as afternoon temperatures in Boston surpassed 70 degrees for the first time this year. - Zoom in: Many had cramps and nausea linked to dehydration; some even got dizzy or disoriented and fell. There were at least 40 cases of heat stroke. And one medical tent hit capacity twice. The marathon’s medical coordinator Chris Troyanos told Martha that about 90 people were taken to local hospitals — a number he expects rose overnight as the effects of dehydration set in. - Troyanos credits the efforts of the marathon's 1,900 health care volunteers: "To have so many licensed medical professionals and non-licensed people donate their time and do what they did," he said. "I mean, they’re heroic. You can’t beat that." P.S.— We have a new podcast coming soon. [Listen here to the trailer for Last Seen's upcoming fourth season, "Postmortem,"]( a look inside the Harvard morgue scandal. The five-part narrative series — hosted by WBUR's Ally Jarmanning — explains what happened at Harvard, explores the dark origins of our nation’s medical schools and tries to answer this question: How should we treat the dead — and who gets to decide? Follow Last Seen [wherever you get your podcasts](. Nik DeCosta-Klipa Editor, Newsletters [Follow]( Hanna Ali Associate Producer, Newsletters  Support the news  The Rundown [Urban renewal battle in Lawrence pits mayor against city council]( Officials are locked in fight over who has the power to transfer city-owned properties. It could be up to a judge to decide who's right. [Read more.]( [Urban renewal battle in Lawrence pits mayor against city council]( Officials are locked in fight over who has the power to transfer city-owned properties. It could be up to a judge to decide who's right. [Read more.]( [NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism]( NPR has suspended Senior Editor Uri Berliner after he wrote an essay accusing the public radio network of becoming too progressive in its news coverage and losing the public's trust. [Read more.]( [NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism]( NPR has suspended Senior Editor Uri Berliner after he wrote an essay accusing the public radio network of becoming too progressive in its news coverage and losing the public's trust. [Read more.]( [Trump's criminal trial, a first for a former president, has begun in New York]( Jury selection is underway for Donald Trump's hush-money trial — the first time in U.S. history a former president is being tried on criminal charges. A decision could come by summer. [Read more.]( [Trump's criminal trial, a first for a former president, has begun in New York]( Jury selection is underway for Donald Trump's hush-money trial — the first time in U.S. history a former president is being tried on criminal charges. A decision could come by summer. [Read more.]( [Right whale is found entangled off New England in a devastating year for the vanishing species]( Federal authorities say a North Atlantic right whale has been spotted entangled in rope off New England in already devastating year for the vanishing animals. NOAA says in a statement the whale has rope coming out of both sides of its mouth and has been far from shore. That makes it difficult for rescuers to help. [Read more.]( [Right whale is found entangled off New England in a devastating year for the vanishing species]( Federal authorities say a North Atlantic right whale has been spotted entangled in rope off New England in already devastating year for the vanishing animals. NOAA says in a statement the whale has rope coming out of both sides of its mouth and has been far from shore. That makes it difficult for rescuers to help. [Read more.]( [Bitcoin is about to hit an event called the halving — and it may spark a huge rally]( Crypto investors are getting excited about an upcoming quadrennial event called the halving that will effectively reduce the supply of new bitcoin in half. Here's what it all means. [Read more.]( [Bitcoin is about to hit an event called the halving — and it may spark a huge rally]( Crypto investors are getting excited about an upcoming quadrennial event called the halving that will effectively reduce the supply of new bitcoin in half. Here's what it all means. [Read more.]( Anything Else? - If the eclipse has you itching for more celestial sights, we have good news. There's an event happening this year that's much more rare than a solar eclipse: [An exploding star in our Milky Way galaxy]( that will be visible from Earth. - Caitlin Clark's college career may be over, but she'll still be delighting fans in the Midwest. The basketball phenom was [selected with the number one pick in yesterday's WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever](. - Nike's [new Olympic track uniform for women]( is stirring up controversy among fans and athletes alike. [Here's a look at why the new design has sparked backlash.]( - After her sister died by suicide, Abby Salois just wanted to hide. Instead, Salois [writes in this essay for Cognoscenti]( that she found refuge in her running sneakers.  What We're Reading 📚 - The Karen Read murder trial starts Tuesday. Here’s a crash course on the case. ([Boston.com]( - Is this the dawn of a new era in women’s sports? ([The Conversation]( - The T’s a mess. Traffic’s terrible. How are employers getting workers to the office? ([Boston Business Journal](  PSA [14 dogs from overcrowded NYC shelter looking for new homes in Mass. (WCVB)]( The MSPCA is taking in 14 dogs from Animal Care Centers of NYC, a network of shelters challenged with too many animals and too few adoptions. [Read more.]( [14 dogs from overcrowded NYC shelter looking for new homes in Mass. (WCVB)]( The MSPCA is taking in 14 dogs from Animal Care Centers of NYC, a network of shelters challenged with too many animals and too few adoptions. [Read more.]( Listen: The Common [chats with Martinus Evans]( founder of the Slow AF Run Club, [during a live event at CitySpace.]( Play: [WBUR's daily mini crossword.]( Can you keep your streak going? Before you go: Gronk's Patriots' Day first pitch was [very on brand](. Meagan McGinnes helped produce today's newsletter. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 🔎 Explore [WBUR's Field Guide]( stories, events and more. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news    Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. 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