Your next handbag could start with mushrooms
www.eurekalert.org
The search for leather alternatives has led researchers somewhere unexpected: fungi. Although traditional leather is durable, producing it requires animal agriculture, which carries negative environmental impacts. Meanwhile, vegan alternatives are typically made from petroleum-based plastics that are difficult to recycle. Researchers report in ACS Applied Bio Materials that mycelium, the underground network of fibers below mushroom caps, can be pressed into a durable yet compostable leather-like fabric. They even sewed the fabric into a purse. 

Unlike the traditional tray method, the new pulp-based approach gave researchers more control over the final material, allowing them to adjust its properties, add colors and textures, or layer the mycelium material onto cotton fabrics.

  • nocturne@slrpnk.net
    5·
    10 days ago

    Next thing you know you are going to find Stamets navigating Discovery through your purse.