Stalker was amazed by the latest product to be made using fungal technology - a computer chip no less! German researchers have tried using skin from the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum to act as a biodegradable electronic substrate.
The fungus, which typically grows on decaying wood, forms a skin to protect its mycelium, a root-like part of the fungus, from foreign bacteria and other fungi.
The skin didn’t grow on other fungi the researchers tested. When they extracted and dried out the skin, they found it is flexible, a good insulator, can withstand temperatures of more than 200°C and has a thickness similar to that of a sheet of paper – good properties for a circuit’s substrate.
Mushrooms and chips will never seem the same again!
