The next time the neighbors push their music too loud, and you’re at a loss for headphones or sound headphones, just put mushrooms in your ear.
Wait – what? Would that even work, and would it give you ear fungus? Maybe not (for the ear fungus too), but scientists have figured out how to make earplugs and other materials that absorb sound from mycelium (above). You know it has to be effective when considering the same material for habitats on Mars. Fungus has an advantage over other products. Its structure is strong enough to need less of it to accommodate explosive music, motors and everything else. Eventually it could be used as an insurance device in everything from furniture to electrical appliances to clothing.
Whether it’s your neighbor’s radio at up to eleven or the incessant symphony of hour-long traffic, all around noise affects your health. We can’t do much about it right now. Soundproofing materials are currently mostly synthetic mineral fibers or foams that do not absorb sound as well and are generally not recyclable or durable. Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT is now collaborating with the IBP Franunhofer Institute for Building Physics to see how they can bind mycelium to other organic materials and 3D print it in earplugs and objects else you would never attach a fungus to it.
“The material, which is transmitted by mycelium, has a strong structure,” Roman Wack, a project partner with Fraunhofer IBP, said in a press release. “This means that thinner layers could be used to make sound machines. ”
Mycelium is the largest basic group for fungi that may or may not spawn mushrooms. If mushrooms could be compared to a tree, the mycelium would form a large network of underground roots of the tree. Fungi spread spores everywhere. These spores end somewhere and grow into what turns into a mycelium. The mycelium grows by releasing an enzyme from the tips of its hyphae, which are long filaments that spread out underground like the roots of a tree, although they look more like to spiders.
There is such an interest in bringing myco products to Mars because you don’t need much at first, meaning that the extra burden of payment burden is only the minimum nutrients needed to grow them. These materials are incredibly strong in their last state. Habitats created by them can absorb the deadly radiation that hits the Red Planet to keep it from getting into the inner astronauts. The same idea is behind the use of materials such as sound absorbers. When mycelium is mixed with other environmentally friendly materials such as wood, straw and food waste, the output from the 3D printer is hard because it has spread hyphae in its tissues. everywhere. It is then heated in a kiln to kill the fungus that will keep it growing almost endlessly.
What emerges from this process is a material that has open cell walls that capture sound. 3D printing certainly makes the material even more efficient as it can be programmed to give the material a porous structure that incorporates sound that keeps it moving as the research teams continue. continue to develop it. Not only will this material be renewable, but it is expected to be better than anything we rely on to keep noise to a minimum at this time. Earplugs and insulating materials made of mycelium are more effective at keeping the sounds of children screaming, blowing leaves and whatever the neighbors do where they are.
This is not for myco products. As well as Mars, they are also directed to everything from furniture and selection machines to plastics and even faux leather.
“There is currently a focus on vegetation and mycelium substrates for developing new products,” Julia Krayer, project manager at Fraunhofer UMSICHT, said in the same press release. “The final products could probably be used as a preservative, but this would require more rigorous scrutiny. “