Our world is embracing smart technology, especially those available to consumers like a Fitbit or an Apple Watch. Smart wearables are everywhere, and most people have or know of someone who has at least one form of them. Although smart wearables are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, what if we thought about them in a different way?
A collaboration between the University of the West England, Bristol; the Open University of Catalonia; the Italian Institute of Technology in Turin; and Mogu Srl (“Srl” is the Italian equivalent of a limited liability company in the United States) in Inarzo, Italy cultivated an improved version of smart wearable technology. Their research paper, “Reactive fungal wearable,” details and describes how Pleurotus ostreatus, a variety of oyster fungus, has an ability similar to smart wearables in that they are able to sense and adapt to their surroundings. They also learned that the fungus was able to create complicated computational components that can implement a range of Boolean functions. Although research into the potentials of fungi interfacing with computational mathematics has just begun, Pleurotus ostreatus can overcome one of the limitations of current smart wearables because of its self-repairing qualities as a live fungus.
Although research into the potentials of fungi interfacing with computational mathematics has just begun, Pleurotus ostreatus can overcome one of the limitations of current smart wearables because of its self-repairing qualities as a live fungus.
One of the major conclusions of the study was to further research and applications about combining live fungi and electronics to make future smart wearable technologies. There is another ongoing study that streamlined the prototype depicted within the paper and expands into using fungal material that can sense the environment for the construction of buildings. The European Union–funded FUNGAR project hopes to use this research to develop a substance made out of live fungi, nanoparticles, and polymers that can be used in a future large-scale construction project. There is hope for more sustainable and functional smart devices and buildings in the future.
Source: 1
Image Source: Flickr
