ucresearch:Why scientists are rooting for mushroomsMushrooms are the organisms that keep on giving.T

ucresearch:Why scientists are rooting for mushroomsMushrooms are the organisms that keep on giving.They grow and feed the soil by breaking down organic matter. For centuries,they’ve also been a staple in our diet. Recently, people have started taking a closer look at mushrooms,and more specifically, mycelium — the hidden root of mushrooms — as anengineering material to produce goods like surfboards, packaging materials, furniture and even architecture.As far as natural materials go, there’snever been anything as versatile and cost-effective as fungi, says SoniaTravaglini, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, whois collaborating with artist and mycologist Philip Ross to unlock theseemingly infinite potential of fungi.Mycelium can grow into any shape or size (the largest in the world blankets an entire forest inOregon). They can be engineered to be as hard and strong as wood or brick,as soft and squishy as foam, or even smooth and flexible, like fabric. Unlike other natural materials, mushroomscan rely on their recycling properties to break down organic matter so youcan grow a lot of it very quickly and cheaply just by feeding it biodegradablewaste. In as little as two weeks, you can cultivate a hunk of mushroom that’sbrick-sized.That mycelium actually takes in waste and carbon dioxide as itgrows (one species of fungi even eatsplastic trash) instead of expelling byproducts makes it far superior to otherforms of production.Plus, when you’re done with mushroom,you can compost it or break up the material to grow more mycelium from it.“And, unlike forming syntheticmaterials, which have to be made while very hot or under pressure, all of whichtakes a lot of energy to create those conditions, mycology materials grow frommushrooms which grow in our normal habitat, so it’s much less energy-intensive,”said Travaglini.In the lab,Travaglini and other researchers crush, compress, stretch, pull and bend myceliumto test the amount of force the material can tolerate.  They found that mycelium isincredibly strong and can withstand a lot of compression and tension.Most materials are only strong fromone direction. But mycology materials are tough from all directions and canabsorb a lot force without breaking. So it can withstand as much weight as abrick, but won’t shatter when you drop it or when it experiences a hard impact,said Travaglini. As one of the newer organismsreceiving an application in biomimetics, a field of science that looks toimitate nature’s instinctive designs to find sustainable solutions andinnovation, we might be getting merely a glimpse of what fungi is capable of.“Mycology is still a whole newfield of research, we’re still finding more questions and still really don’tknow where it’s going to go, which makes it really exciting,” said Travaglini.Image sources: Vice UK/Mazda & Pearson Prentice Hall -- source link

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