Besides eating, what other magical uses do mushrooms have?

When it comes to mushrooms, people can't help but immediately associate them with eating. Although mushrooms have always been regarded as "vegetables" by the public, they are not plants, but fungi.

 

Moreover, these parts that are usually considered food by us are not the whole of mushrooms. In the underground (or decaying wood) where they grow, there is also a mycelium network composed of countless cells, called mycelium.

Mycelia is the basic structural unit of fungi, generally tubular in shape, with fixed cell walls, mostly colorless and transparent, with a diameter of 1-30 μ M is responsible for absorbing, transporting, and storing nutrients. In order to obtain nutrients, fungi continuously radiate and extend their hyphae outward during their growth, penetrating into the gaps between soil and decaying trees, and continuously branching, ultimately forming a huge hyphal network underground.

 

The main components of the mycelium cell wall include chitin, glucan, and protein. The outer layer of the cell wall is mainly composed of proteins and glucans, while the inner layer is composed of chitin interwoven with other polysaccharides in the form of microfibers to form a solid skeleton.

 

Chitin has a tensile strength comparable to carbon fiber, and has excellent thermal stability and flame retardancy. And glucan, like an adhesive, can help the mycelium network bind more tightly to its growing substrate, in order to better absorb nutrients from it. It is precisely because of these outstanding characteristics that mycelium has gradually entered the field of view of materials scientists.

Given the structure and characteristics of mycelium, some innovative scientists have attempted to apply it to the development and manufacturing of new biomass materials, and apply it to various design fields.

 

By establishing suitable cultivation conditions, the mycelium of mushrooms gradually grows into a single tubular mycelium, which is then artificially induced to form a dense sheet like structure through intertwining and aggregation.

 

Due to the fact that the entire formation process is achieved through the natural growth of mycelium and does not require chemical synthesis, this material is also known as a biological assembly material.

At present, there are two main types of mycelium materials: pure mycelium materials and mycelium composite materials. Pure mycelium material exists in a flat form and is naturally grown from pure mycelium. Its texture is similar to animal leather and has been widely used in fields such as clothing, shoe and hat processing.

 

In recent years, many internationally renowned luxury brands have successively launched products made of mycelium leather. Compared to raising livestock to produce leather, the carbon emissions from mycelium leather production are much lower. It is precisely for this reason that the sharp luxury goods giants have seen the huge hidden business opportunities, after all, environmental protection is the most concerned and popular fashion element at present.

 

With the continuous deepening of research, scientists have discovered that pure mycelium materials have interactive characteristics such as printability, dyeability, and sewability, while also allowing mycelium to continue to grow on other fabrics, further forming mycelium composite fabrics.

 

Moreover, this material exhibits tensile resistance due to the intertwining and compression of mycelium, and when treated with glycerol, it can further enhance its tensile properties, achieving properties similar to rubber. This kind of foam rubber produced by mycelium has many advantages, such as portability, breathability, flame retardancy, waterproof, etc. At present, it has been applied to household products for infants and young children, and has formed a commercial product in North America.

In addition, scientists have found that by mixing pure mycelium leather materials with natural or synthetic polymers to form composite materials, their fatigue resistance and wear resistance can be further improved. This type of material is gentle and wear-resistant.

What is more valuable is that as pure natural products, they have excellent biological affinity, will not stimulate human skin and produce allergic reactions, and have quite high use safety. Therefore, they are made into medical care and beauty products such as facial mask, eye mask, and cosmetic powder puff, with huge market application potential.

 

Compared to pure mycelium materials, mycelium composite materials mainly exist in a three-dimensional form, which is a composite material formed by combining mushroom mycelium with agricultural waste such as rice husks, corn cobs, straw, and sawdust. In the process of mixed cultivation with these waste materials, the mycelium decomposes the waste materials to obtain nutrients for its own growth, while tightly integrating the waste materials into its own growth attachment.

 

The color of the material will vary from white to brown depending on the cultivation time. The color difference is mainly caused by the number of mycelium growth on the surface of the material. Usually, the whiter the color, the more vigorous the mycelium growth is. The biggest advantage of this composite material is its strong plasticity, which can be made into any shape depending on the growth mold.

Moreover, this material combines the characteristics of mycelium, plant fibers, straw and other substrates, and has superior properties such as light weight, strong compression resistance, thermal insulation, sound insulation and noise reduction, flame retardant and waterproof. Therefore, mycelium composite materials are mainly used to make cushioning packaging, building bricks, soundproof wall panels, lampshades, tables and chairs, as well as interior decoration materials for automobiles.

More importantly, this composite material has a natural degradable and recyclable environmental effect, and can effectively solve the problem of reusing agricultural waste. Imagine that in the near future, in order to establish human activity bases on the moon or Mars, we do not need to consider the expensive and laborious method of using spacecraft to transport building materials from Earth into space. Using mushroom mycelium and simple matrix materials can quickly and efficiently produce the building materials we need in the space station.

 

In terms of eating, scientists have applied mycelium to research on replacing protein foods. Based on the technology of pure mycelium leather materials, new mycelium artificial meat has been born.

There are companies in the United States that produce mycelial artificial bacon. Compared to artificial meat made from soy protein, it not only has no beany smell, but also has a taste closer to real pork. In addition, its nutritional value is higher than that of pork, which is not only easy to digest and absorb, but also rich in more vitamins and minerals, making it increasingly favored by vegetarians.

In the future, in the long interstellar exploration journey, we no longer need to endure the unpleasant smell of raising livestock and poultry in the narrow and closed cabins just to eat a bite of meat, like the sailors of the 14th century European era of great navigation. The application of mycelium technology to produce artificial meat substitutes will be a clean and efficient method.

 

Moreover, even on Earth, this technology still holds great potential. Compared to traditional livestock and poultry farming, the carbon emissions generated by using mycelium technology to produce equal amounts of artificial meat are only a few tens of the former, and can greatly reduce the use of land and water resources. In today's increasingly prominent environmental and climate issues, the emergence of this technology is of great significance for sustainable human development.

 

Whether it is mycelium leather, artificial meat, or building materials, the production process can be highly controllable, allowing for the production of standardized products on a large scale, as well as adjusting the thickness, weight, and feel of the finished product to form differentiated customization. This is also an important reason why this technology has flourished in just 20 years since its invention.

In addition, due to the differences in the main components such as chitin and glucan in the mycelium cells of different mushrooms, scientists can select different types of mushrooms as culture objects according to different needs in the production of mycelium materials.

For example, using the mycelium of edible mushrooms such as mushrooms to produce artificial meat can effectively avoid food safety risks; The use of mushrooms with high degree of lignification such as Ganoderma lucidum and mesoporous fungi to produce rubber materials and building materials can significantly improve their strength and toughness.

In nature, there are over 20000 species of large fungi known as mushrooms, and these abundant fungal resources provide almost infinite possibilities for the production and application of mycelium materials.

 

I believe that soon, various types of mycelium materials and products will enter thousands of households, making our lives more diverse and colorful. Regardless of the era, there are always many unexpected disruptive technological innovations that have created a bright future for our humanity.