Merlin Sheldrake is a mycologist with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He is the author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.