One might call her the Esther Perel of the fungi kingdom: Cardy Raper, an expert in mushroom sex, could tell you stories about water mold reproduction that rival the most imaginative sci-fi erotica. The aquatic fungus Achyla, for instance, is capable of changing its sex on the spot, depending on the signals of the nearest available mate. Achyla can even get it on with two partners simultaneously, adopting male sex characteristics on one side and female on the other. Hot. Now 94, the inexhaustible Raper (yes, she's heard all the jokes) has traded her career as a fungi sexologist for a second vocation as an author — most recently of the thrillingly titled memoir, Love, Sex & Mushrooms: Adventures of a Woman in Science, published by Green Writers Press in November 2018. The book chronicles her initiation into fungal knowledge through her mentor, John "Red" Raper, a renowned mycologist and professor at the University of Chicago. The two later married after a whirlwind courtship, a period of agonizing uncertainty (when they met, Red had a wife and kid), and a distressing incident involving a pipette. After Red's death in 1974, Raper forged ahead with the research they had worked on together, embarking on a solo career at a time when women were scarce in scientific academia. From 1983 until her retirement in 1994, Raper was a research professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Vermont, where she directed studies on the mechanics of reproduction in a species of fungus with more than 20,000 sexual variations — male, female and everything in between. A few days before she was scheduled to give a talk at Phoenix Books in Rutland on February 2, Raper was nursing a bad case of bronchitis. Before our interview, I called her to make sure she was still up for a conversation. She said she was, then requested that I pick up a pound of Misty Knoll Farms chicken wings and several "slightly greenish" bananas from City Market, Onion River Co-op on my way over. This is a woman who knows what she wants. SEVEN DAYS: Before you and Red Raper were married, you were his lab assistant. Was there anything auspicious about your first meeting? CARDY RAPER: Red and I met through a mutual acquaintance at the University of Chicago. Our first encounter was at a greasy spoon on 53rd Street in…
One might call her the Esther Perel of the fungi kingdom: Cardy Raper, an expert in mushroom sex, could tell you stories about water mold reproduction that rival the most imaginative sci-fi erotica. The aquatic fungus Achyla, for instance, is capable of changing its sex on the spot, depending on the signals of the nearest available mate. Achyla can even get it on with two partners simultaneously, adopting male sex characteristics on one side and female on the other. Hot. Now 94, the inexhaustible Raper (yes, she's heard all the jokes) has traded her career as a fungi sexologist for a second vocation as an author — most recently of the thrillingly titled memoir, Love, Sex & Mushrooms: Adventures of a Woman in Science, published by Green Writers Press in November 2018. The book chronicles her initiation into fungal knowledge through her mentor, John "Red" Raper, a renowned mycologist and professor at the University of Chicago. The two later married after a whirlwind courtship, a period of agonizing uncertainty (when they met, Red had a wife and kid), and a distressing incident involving a pipette. After Red's death in 1974, Raper forged ahead with the research they had worked on together, embarking on a solo career at a time when women were scarce in scientific academia. From 1983 until her retirement in 1994, Raper was a research professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Vermont, where she directed studies on the mechanics of reproduction in a species of fungus with more than 20,000 sexual variations — male, female and everything in between. A few days before she was scheduled to give a talk at Phoenix Books in Rutland on February 2, Raper was nursing a bad case of bronchitis. Before our interview, I called her to make sure she was still up for a conversation. She said she was, then requested that I pick up a pound of Misty Knoll Farms chicken wings and several "slightly greenish" bananas from City Market, Onion River Co-op on my way over. This is a woman who knows what she wants. SEVEN DAYS: Before you and Red Raper were married, you were his lab assistant. Was there anything auspicious about your first meeting? CARDY RAPER: Red and I met through a mutual acquaintance at the University of Chicago. Our first encounter was at a greasy spoon on 53rd Street in…