Archives: Events

Fungal Communication invites audiences to rethink what it means to communicate with the more-than-human world. Blending mycology, philosophy, foraging practice, and reflections from her debut book Gathered: On Foraging, Feasting, and the Seasonal Life, Gabrielle Cerberville explores fungi not as metaphors for connection, but as living beings whose ways of sensing, exchanging, decomposing, and world-making challenge human assumptions about individuality, intelligence, and relationship. Cerberville ponders how foraging could renew practices of attention, reciprocity, humility, and responsibility.

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Gabrielle Cerberville, otherwise known as Chaotic Forager and sometimes as the Internet’s Mushroom Auntie, is a celebrated foraging educator, community mycologist, climate advocate, and author of Gathered: On Foraging, Feasting, and the Seasonal Life. A current PhD student at the University of Virginia in the Music Composition and Computer Technologies program, Gabrielle researches the intersection between art, science, and our responsibility to understand, protect, and communicate with the natural world.

In From Inflammation to Connection: Lessons from the Living World herbalist Rosalee de la Forêt explores what the living world can teach us about resilience, relationship, and balance through the lens of herbalism, ecology, and personal experience. Blending modern insights on chronic inflammation with traditional plant wisdom, Rosalee will share how healing is not just about herbs and symptoms, but about restoring connection: within ourselves, with one another, and with the living world around us. Along the way, she’ll highlight a handful of medicinal plants and the deeper lessons they offer about how we live and care for ourselves.

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Rosalee de la Forêt is the founder of the Herbs with Rosalee online school, a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild, and the author of two bestselling books (Alchemy of Herbs and Wild Remedies). Rosalee has had the joy of working with tens of thousands of students from all over the world—through in-depth courses, free classes, and a weekly podcast that celebrates one healing plant at a time.

The ergot fungus (Claviceps purpurea) has a dark history, linked to St. Anthony’s Fire and the collapse of Peter the Great’s 1722 Ottoman campaign after ergot-infected rye poisoned soldiers and horses. Yet for centuries it was also used by midwives as pulvis ad partum (“powder for birth”), though misuse later earned it the name pulvis ad mortem (“powder for death”). Eclectic Medicine helped refine ergot into stable, reliable medicines through improved extraction methods. Today, ergot-derived compounds remain important treatments for migraines and postpartum hemorrhage, linking folklore with modern pharmacology.

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Kimberly Gwinn is a Professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at University of Tennessee. Her research explores the ecological roles of natural compounds in interactions among humans, animals, and the environment, with a focus on biopesticides from agricultural waste and microbial toxins in plant-based products. She teaches courses on medicinal plant and microbial products and is nationally recognized for advancing STEM education through undergraduate research.

Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati shares how trained therapy animal teams bring comfort, emotional support, and meaningful connection to people across the region. Combining scientific research with firsthand experiences, this program highlights the therapeutic power of human-animal relationships and the growing role of therapy animals in health and wellness.

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Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization founded in 2004 as the tri-state resource for Sharing The Love of Therapy Animals. They are proud to be a Community Partner of Pet Partners, a national AAA/AAT organization, with nearly 200 volunteer therapy teams providing Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) and Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) throughout the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metro area.

Take a walk though the garden with us and explore the art and tradition of natural dyeing with the Weavers Guild of Cincinnati. A tour of the Guild’s carefully planned dye garden, where plants are grown specifically for use in coloring fibers and textiles will be followed by a tour the historic house. We’ll enjoy light refreshments, and have the opportunity to create their own naturally dyed bandana during an optional hands-on activity ($5 materials fee directly to the Guild at the time of the event).

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The Weavers Guild of Cincinnati was created in 1948 as a non-profit educational organization to promote interest in handweaving. Today, the guild offers education in a wide range of fiber processes and techniques, including weaving, felting, spinning, basketry, knitting, and dyeing.

Gathering Council is a guided exploration of extended cognition and the idea that thinking is not confined to the brain, but emerges through our relationships with body, environment, and community. This program invites participants to reimagine illness, ecological instability, and social upheaval not as isolated crises, but as entangled experiences that can deepen perception and connection. Through reflective dialogue and embodied practices, we will explore how intelligence is distributed across systems, human and more-than-human, and how attuning to these wider networks can offer new pathways for meaning, resilience, and collective care.

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Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. But it would probably be more authentic to call her a troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. Give her a salamander and a stone and she’ll write you a love story. Sophie was raised by house cats, puff balls, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. In every neighborhood she’s ever lived in she has been known as “the walker”. She believes strongly that all thinking happens interstitially – between beings, ideas, differences, mythical gradients.

From early discoveries rooted in traditional remedies to today’s cutting-edge laboratory techniques, the search for anti-cancer drugs in nature has evolved dramatically. How Were Anti-Cancer Drugs from Nature Discovered in the Past? How is it Done Today? Explores how scientists have historically identified powerful natural compounds, and how modern research continues to uncover new possibilities using advanced tools and interdisciplinary approaches. Gain insight into the journey from plant and fungal sources to potential therapies, and how innovations in chemistry and biology are accelerating the discovery process.

Nicholas Oberlies leads a dynamic lab of researchers from undergraduate to postdoctoral levels, focused on understanding the chemistry of nature to discover compounds that benefit humankind, especially anticancer and antibiotic drug leads. He earned his B.S. from Miami University and Ph.D. from Purdue University. After postdoctoral work in industry and at RTI, where he advanced to direct the Natural Products Laboratory, he moved to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. There, he leads efforts to develop new compounds from natural sources, with a focus on anticancer fungi and the safety and quality of herbal remedies.

In the early 20th century, scientists around the world believed that many secrets of human health could only be revealed by careful study of dogs. Today, however, there is widespread criticism of the use of dogs in biomedical and chemical testing. How did we get here? Join us as Brad Bolman explores the surprising history of dogs in international science, focusing on why lovable beagle dogs became one of the most significant animal models in What Dogs Teach Us About Human Health.

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Brad Bolman is Assistant Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Tulane University. His first book, Lab Dog: What Global Science Owes American Beagles, came out with University of Chicago Press in 2025. His is currently working on his next book, Rotten Beauty: A Fungal History of the World.