Advertisement
Grab your lab coat. Let's get started
Welcome!
Welcome!
Create an account below to get 6 C&EN articles per month, receive newsletters and more - all free.
It seems this is your first time logging in online. Please enter the following information to continue.
As an ACS member you automatically get access to this site. All we need is few more details to create your reading experience.
Not you? Sign in with a different account.
Not you? Sign in with a different account.
ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
Biomaterials
Chemistry In Pictures
Chemistry in Pictures: Mysterious mushroom
by Craig Bettenhausen
March 17, 2022
Few would guess in their first five attempts that the man in this photo is making textiles. But that’s exactly what expert mushroom grower Leon Van Den Oord is doing. The fluffy white mats are mycelium, which is basically the root structure of mushrooms. Van Den Oord is part of a team helping biomaterials maker Bolt Threads scale up their leatherlike Mylo material, which is made using mycelium. Bolt’s current production process uses trays that are half a meter square, which has limited the kinds of customers that can use its material. The new system shown here, developed with the Dutch firm Mycelium Materials Europe based on commercial white button mushroom fungiculture, uses much bigger trays and can make Mylo sheets big enough to cover the floor of a jumbo jet. Bolt says they’ll be scaled up to 93,000 m3 per year by the end of 2022 and to more than 100,000 m3 in the near future.
Credit: Bolt Threads
Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest here.
You might also like...
The power is now in your (nitrile gloved) hands
Sign up for a free account to get more articles. Or choose the ACS option that’s right for you.
Already have an ACS ID? Log in
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter