4 ms·

MycelioTronics: Fungal mycelium skin for sustainable electronics

113 points by lioeters 4y ago

Zensynthium 4y ago
Absolutely love the science being done here! Hope things like these can hit the market, and quickly.
raziel2701 4y ago
I'd be very careful with anything fungal on my body. Last thing I'd want is a fungal infection in my lungs or something dreadful like that. This looks like the classic human folly were we get blinded and overhyped by the usefulness of the technology and minimize and discard the side-effects.
- happimess 4y ago
  The abstract doesn't mention anything about grafting this to human skin. I believe the researchers are proposing a fungal substrate for PCBs.
- grp000 4y ago
  People eat it.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  The earth is absolutely covered in fungus and fungus spores. I don't think a product manufactured from stabilized reishi mycelium would be anything to worry about.
  - sedatk 4y ago
    That's the premise of the game The Last Of Us.
    - honkycat 4y ago
      Which is a work of fiction
      - culi 4y ago
        And is based on cordyceps mushrooms. Which are actual parasitoids of insects. They're the famous "mind-control" mushrooms you see in every nature documentary that features ants in the Amazon Reishi on the other hand... eats trees. For some possibly useful context. When wood (lignan) first evolved there was nothing that could break it down. And for possibly thousands of years much of earth became "polluted" by dead trees that couldn't be broken. It was fungi that finally evolved ways to decompose it. They're obviously really good at it at this point, but hopefully that gives you a sense of just how specialized an organism has to be to primarily live off of wood You got nothing to worry about :)
        stuntkite 4y ago
        Cordyceps are fairly harmless, actually very beneficial to humans. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356751/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356751/
- weego 4y ago
  Mycelial sheets are formed of filaments (hyphae) that have grown as a result of a spore / multiple spores growing, which are 'fruit phase' of the fungus. The mycelial sheets are rendered 'inert' through one of an option of processes (for example baking it). A clearer visualisation of the materials here: the mycelial sheets used in research / production are as to spores as a plank of apple tree wood is to apple seeds. When you're working with the wood you do need to be cautious of the dust, but you don't need to be concerned about apple seeds sporadically appearing.
- mancerayder 4y ago
  Fungi are a critical component of all soil, spores are everywhere indoors and out.
- compiskey 4y ago
  The use of “skin” in the title has nothing to do with the human body. This is creating a substrate to replace the “green boards” we use now. It’s composed of layers of “mushroom skin” to place traces and components on.
- bobkazamakis 4y ago
  I'd watch out for bacteria too! Wouldn't want any of those crawling around your gut.
- _qua 4y ago
  You are breathing in fungal spores right now. They're everywhere.
- gravelc 4y ago
  Well that’s beer and bread off then menu. Fungi are like plants. Some are beneficial. Some are not.
andsoitis 4y ago
The fungus they use, Ganoderma lucidum, is reishi. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/
- stuntkite 4y ago
  Nice. Reishi is a really cool mushroom. I was already planning to try cultivating some soon.
user3939382 4y ago
After watching a lot of Paul Stamets on Rogan I am, I think permanently, very fascinated with mycology. It's something I never paid much attention to, but the way they work, grow, how they're connected, the potential applications, is all super cool.
- Sugimot0 4y ago
  Yeah considering it's still kind of the early days for these sort of "applied" mycology projects, and there are already so many novel ideas and incredible capabilities being shown, I wonder what the real life application's will look like 50 years from now.
brianhorakh 4y ago
Not affiliated with this researcher. Have Been working on similar commercial applications, manufacturing with of this tech for 4 years (can show my own research, date stamped by google, github, etc.) Anybody interested in actually manufacturing might want to hit me up. Patents ready. Http://fungible.farm
- stuntkite 4y ago
  Very interesting stuff. I've been looking at and experimenting with similar ideas for a bit. Nothing professionally, but I'm excited to find more active work to follow gluing together manufacturing with fungus. Excited to poke at your github and have some things I'd very much like to talk to you about in the new year. I'll shoot you an email this week.
annadiru 4y ago
It'd be neat to build a device that can interface with the electrochemical signal layer of mycellium networks in an attempt to understand the nature of their awareness, if it can be called such. I suppose the best way to further our understanding of them is through experi(m)ential methods. It's worked well for the natural sciences so far shrug
- carapace 4y ago
  I'm going to hang my comment off yours, since it's nearly a perfect "hook". You don't need to build that device. You are that device. (Check out Michael Levin's lab's work, et. al. The machinery of thought is common to all cells, not just neurons. Mycelium is a brain. - - - - The problem with this approach (making machines out of living tissues) is the fundamental difference between what Martin Buber called "I-Thou" vs. "I-It" relationship. Mushrooms are people. Treating them as objects is rude at best.
  - annadiru 4y ago
    I agree. Establishing communication and seeking understanding them are nice approaches. I like what his guy has started doing recently in his parent's basement https://fungimancy.neocities.org/ https://fungimancy.neocities.org/ but am a bit put off by his 'life-form as tool' approach.

113 points by lioeters 4y ago

Absolutely love the science being done here! Hope things like these can hit the market, and quickly.

I'd be very careful with anything fungal on my body. Last thing I'd want is a fungal infection in my lungs or something dreadful like that. This looks like the classic human folly were we get blinded and overhyped by the usefulness of the technology and minimize and discard the side-effects.

happimess 4y ago
The abstract doesn't mention anything about grafting this to human skin. I believe the researchers are proposing a fungal substrate for PCBs.
grp000 4y ago
People eat it.
TaylorAlexander 4y ago
The earth is absolutely covered in fungus and fungus spores. I don't think a product manufactured from stabilized reishi mycelium would be anything to worry about.
- sedatk 4y ago
  That's the premise of the game The Last Of Us.
  - honkycat 4y ago
    Which is a work of fiction
    - culi 4y ago
      And is based on cordyceps mushrooms. Which are actual parasitoids of insects. They're the famous "mind-control" mushrooms you see in every nature documentary that features ants in the Amazon Reishi on the other hand... eats trees. For some possibly useful context. When wood (lignan) first evolved there was nothing that could break it down. And for possibly thousands of years much of earth became "polluted" by dead trees that couldn't be broken. It was fungi that finally evolved ways to decompose it. They're obviously really good at it at this point, but hopefully that gives you a sense of just how specialized an organism has to be to primarily live off of wood You got nothing to worry about :)
      - stuntkite 4y ago
        Cordyceps are fairly harmless, actually very beneficial to humans. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356751/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356751/
weego 4y ago
Mycelial sheets are formed of filaments (hyphae) that have grown as a result of a spore / multiple spores growing, which are 'fruit phase' of the fungus. The mycelial sheets are rendered 'inert' through one of an option of processes (for example baking it). A clearer visualisation of the materials here: the mycelial sheets used in research / production are as to spores as a plank of apple tree wood is to apple seeds. When you're working with the wood you do need to be cautious of the dust, but you don't need to be concerned about apple seeds sporadically appearing.
mancerayder 4y ago
Fungi are a critical component of all soil, spores are everywhere indoors and out.
compiskey 4y ago
The use of “skin” in the title has nothing to do with the human body. This is creating a substrate to replace the “green boards” we use now. It’s composed of layers of “mushroom skin” to place traces and components on.
bobkazamakis 4y ago
I'd watch out for bacteria too! Wouldn't want any of those crawling around your gut.
_qua 4y ago
You are breathing in fungal spores right now. They're everywhere.
gravelc 4y ago
Well that’s beer and bread off then menu. Fungi are like plants. Some are beneficial. Some are not.

andsoitis 4y ago

The fungus they use, Ganoderma lucidum, is reishi. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/

stuntkite 4y ago
Nice. Reishi is a really cool mushroom. I was already planning to try cultivating some soon.

user3939382 4y ago

After watching a lot of Paul Stamets on Rogan I am, I think permanently, very fascinated with mycology. It's something I never paid much attention to, but the way they work, grow, how they're connected, the potential applications, is all super cool.

Sugimot0 4y ago
Yeah considering it's still kind of the early days for these sort of "applied" mycology projects, and there are already so many novel ideas and incredible capabilities being shown, I wonder what the real life application's will look like 50 years from now.

brianhorakh 4y ago

Not affiliated with this researcher. Have Been working on similar commercial applications, manufacturing with of this tech for 4 years (can show my own research, date stamped by google, github, etc.) Anybody interested in actually manufacturing might want to hit me up. Patents ready. Http://fungible.farm

stuntkite 4y ago
Very interesting stuff. I've been looking at and experimenting with similar ideas for a bit. Nothing professionally, but I'm excited to find more active work to follow gluing together manufacturing with fungus. Excited to poke at your github and have some things I'd very much like to talk to you about in the new year. I'll shoot you an email this week.

annadiru 4y ago

It'd be neat to build a device that can interface with the electrochemical signal layer of mycellium networks in an attempt to understand the nature of their awareness, if it can be called such. I suppose the best way to further our understanding of them is through experi(m)ential methods. It's worked well for the natural sciences so far shrug

carapace 4y ago
I'm going to hang my comment off yours, since it's nearly a perfect "hook". You don't need to build that device. You are that device. (Check out Michael Levin's lab's work, et. al. The machinery of thought is common to all cells, not just neurons. Mycelium is a brain. - - - - The problem with this approach (making machines out of living tissues) is the fundamental difference between what Martin Buber called "I-Thou" vs. "I-It" relationship. Mushrooms are people. Treating them as objects is rude at best.
- annadiru 4y ago
  I agree. Establishing communication and seeking understanding them are nice approaches. I like what his guy has started doing recently in his parent's basement https://fungimancy.neocities.org/ https://fungimancy.neocities.org/ but am a bit put off by his 'life-form as tool' approach.