6 minute read
MYCOTECHNOLOGY
Futuristic fungi
With its superfood status and mycelium-made vegan leather goods, sustainable furniture and future habitats on Mars, it seems the humble mushroom is not so humble after all. A large number of scientists are now researching its applications –food scientist Nina Miklos explains
In recent weeks Netflix has seen Fantastic Fungi – a lightly informative film prominently featuring perhaps the best-known mycologist in the world, Paul Stamets –added to its documentary section. Through animations of prehistory, vibrant time-lapses of growing mushrooms and interviews with other fungi enthusiasts, the functions of fungi that extend beyond simple, everyday kitchen use are explored.
The film only scratches the surface, or rather undersurface, of the ways in which members of the fungi kingdom can be harnessed for sustainable purposes.
Scientists have recently discovered and studied fossils that confirm a fungal presence in what’s now the Democratic Republic of Congo 800 million years ago, although others suggest fungi date back as early as 2.4 billion years ago. Surprisingly, they have been found to share more DNA with us, as opposed to plants, which we might expect. Mushrooms themselves are the fruiting bodies of fungal networks called mycelia, which are their extremely fine, root-like fibres that disperse far and wide underground. Mushrooms crop up for the fungal body to reproduce and form the particulate spores that are carried by the wind. The mycelia grow to source and satisfy the nutrient requirements of the fungus. They excrete enzymes to digest their food source, recycling soil nutrients and even storing atmospheric carbon in the process.
Mushrooms are extremely nutritious, boasting richness in the B vitamins and therefore proving highly beneficial to our immune systems. Like humans, mushrooms possess the capacity to harness vitamin D from sunlight, making UV-exposed mushrooms the only significant source of this super-important micronutrient in the vegetable aisle.
Just recently, Bristol was awarded Gold Sustainable Food City status, so it perhaps comes as no surprise that the city has roots in sustainable mushroom farming. Upcycled Mushrooms, a supplier of gourmet mushrooms to the city’s restaurants, actually creates value from local waste coffee grounds, using them as a substrate and source of growth for their oyster mushrooms. Owner Patrick Mallery has, however, also created a range of grow-your-own-athome kits that are perfectly safe and easy to use. It includes the UK’s first grow-kit for the mushroom species lion’s mane –considered to have medicinal benefits when consumed. These are extremely rare and legally protected in the wild. The Bristol Fungarium is another cultivator of a diverse range of high-quality mushrooms, supplying the three Better Food groceries and cafes dotted around the city.
The fungi kingdom, most recently estimated to comprise 3.8 million species, is therefore deemed to be nature’s greatest decomposer. In fact, the ability to break down foreign substances is so potent, researchers have found numerous mushrooms capable of digesting plastic into organic matter. They are the perfect candidate for bioremediation [the use of living organisms in the removal of contaminants from natural environments] projects of the future. Mycofiltration is another example. Here mycelium is used in groundwater treatment as it has proven effective in extracting heavy metal contaminants. These particularly elegant and natural solutions for combating pollution, albeit slow by current industrial standards, have unfortunately attracted limited amounts of funding and attention; many mycologists believe the field has been long-neglected and largely overlooked.
Mycelium-engineered replacements for plastics, wearable leathers, meat and beauty products are now widely available all over the world. The Magical Mushroom Company is the first UK partner of New York’s mycelium innovator Ecovative Design. Their Surreybased production plant specifically manufactures mushroom-based packaging, the likes of which is now used by companies such as Ikea
Nebraska student Katy Ayers created a canoe using fibrous mushroom roots (photo courtesy of M.Ayres) Ecovative and bioMASON mushroom furniture
The fungi kingdom, most recently estimated to comprise 3.8 million species, is deemed nature’s greatest decomposer
and Dell. This alternative to polystyrene, which takes up large amounts of landfill space and hundreds of years to decompose, can completely biodegrade at the end of its intended product life cycle. The levels of carbon emissions associated with agricultural farming and plastic manufacturing can be significantly reduced if fungalderived materials are employed as an alternative. For example, instead of using petroleum, fungi only require a waste source such as seed husks and straw to grow. Under remarkably low-energy conditions, the threadlike cells grow to fit the precise shape of the mould they inhabit within just five to seven days. Growth is stopped by either heat treatment or a dehydration process and the resulting product is hydrophobic and fire resistant.
Even though the use of pure mycelium to produce building blocks that resemble the conventional masonry brick capable of supporting heavy structures remains futuristic, mycelium has most definitely emerged as a sustainable solution for green housing construction. Researchers are still developing unique mycelium blocks, since the rigidity and stiffness of the product can depend on both the fungal species used and the substrate it’s grown on. Scientists can also inactivate certain fungal genes to observe whether this influences the material’s strength and density properties, so there’s still a lot of room for experimentation. Often composited and compressed with other eco-materials, mycelium can create lightweight bricks, flooring, insulation and cladding structures that are fire safe, with a low thermal conductivity and high acoustic absorption. It isn’t wild to imagine, in fact now highly probable, that mycelium composites will soon play a role in housing in developing countries, and when temporary buildings are required –for instance those facilitating large sporting events that eventually require demolition.
Researchers from UWE Bristol’s Centre of Unconventional Computing are in the midst of a project with fungi right at its heart, set to revolutionise the home as we know it. The EU Horizon 2020 project, FUNGAR (acronym for Fungal Architectures) involves building with mycelium, the key difference being that they are kept in a live state and integrated within a computer system. In theory, a ‘smart home’ can be constructed this way, with the intelligent, conscious mycelium able to sense signals in the environment such as light, pollutants and temperature. It’s hoped that these signals can be then be transduced and converted to system outputs, such as the switching on of a light as it becomes dark outside. Professor Andrew Adamatzky, head of the project’s Bristol laboratory, assures us that the project is well underway.
“If successful, the building as a whole will be able to recognise lighting levels, chemicals in the environment, the presence of people, and will respond to touch. Acting as a massively parallel computer, the building will control devices depending on the environmental conditions. For example, a warning light could be lit if high levels of air pollution were detected or inhabitants could be warned about high or low temperatures. It’s our vision for an alternative version of a smart home.”
The research is being done in collaboration with academic partners in Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands, but it’s UWE Bristol’s Frenchay Campus that’s set to be the future home to a small-scale, living fungal building in years to come. ■
• Read the full Future of Mushrooms for Immunity: People and Planet report by The UK and Ireland Mushroom Producers via mushroomsaremagic.co.uk
The Hy-Fi installation The Living at MoMA New York is a tower of ‘grown’ bio-bricks (photo by Amy Barkow)
