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Fungi in the future
produce its mushrooms.
To transform the mycelium into MycoWorks’s leather-like material, Ross’s team uses a
process they’ve refined over time, which they can tweak depending on a customer’s specifications.
For instance, they might alter the nutrition of the mushroom at different phases
of its life cycle. They can also adjust temperature, light, humidity, and gas levels in
the mushroom’s environment, or apply essential oils or other organic methods to change
how the tissue develops. Their manipulation techniques are based on “an understanding
of how the mushroom grows and from seeing it grow in very diverse environmental
conditions,” including in the wild and under laboratory conditions, Ross says. “A lot of
what we do is, we examine how the mushroom reacts to different stresses, and we then
apply that.”
There are still questions to answer. For one, MycoWorks is testing how long the material
can last, and to that end, is researching preserving oils and other agents used in traditional
leatherworking. Further, the company is continuing to experiment with how to
scale up production. Ross says that right now, they can produce a slab of mycelium that’s
27 square feet—comparable to a full-size cowhide—in two weeks. They hope to get
the process down to about a week, and eventually ramp up production so that they can
efficiently produce millions of square feet each year, and maybe even build facilities in
other U.S. cities. MycoWorks is already working with designers to shape the mycelium
to suit their needs. Ross likes to say that his material is “programmable,” because it can
be manipulated for myriad uses, including—but not limited to—apparel, accessories,
furniture, and possibly even electronics.
sciencefriday:
„FUNGI IN THE FUTURE“
In: sciencefriday.com Stand: 15.. Januar 2018.
https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-fungi-in-your-future/