In the Future, Your Car May Be Made of Mushrooms

[Jayden]

In the future, mushrooms may be as common in cars as they are on pizza.

Believe it or not, scientists who are trying to find more sustainable ways to build car parts believe the answers may be found in things such as mushroom roots.

The newest episode of the PBS series "Nova," which airs Wednesday, focuses on the new discoveries that scientists such as Deborah Mielewski, the technical leader of plastics research at Ford Motor Co., are working on to reduce the carbon tire track that autos leave on the environment

Full Story ----> HERE

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

Nuture da KOOLS yay!

wiggles

 

[T-Rexx]

In the 1930s, Henry Ford had a trunk lid made for his personal car out of plastic made from soybeans. He used to demonstrate its durability by attacking the trunk lid with an axe, which would fly out of his hands after hitting the trunk.

In 1941, Ford built a car in which the entire body was made of soybean-based plastic. It didn't rust, weighed a third less than its metal-bodied counterpart and it ran entirely on ethanol!

http://www.thehenryford.org/research/soybeancar.aspx

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

yeah so much fa educate cultures sharin da good life

back down da mines guyssssssss
' Hi ho

 

[HornyHenry]

Soybeans have been used for plastic for years although much soybean crop is said to be genetically tampered.
If mushroom plastic is as durable and the type of mushroom used is plentiful and the process is cheap and eco-friendly it'll be a good material.

 

[BigDestiny]

It always amazes me when people come up with stuff like this. I can't imagine working on something and suddenly going, "You know what I could use for this? Mushrooms." If it had been left up to me, I doubt we'd even know they were edible.

 

[sabot3ur]

I love mushrooms! such a versatile fungus

 

[Fire]

When did Hot Topics become the YahooNews! homepage?

 

[Wisco-]

Some companies are already using mushrooms to grow packaging as an alternative to Styrofoam. It's easily composteable and it keeps non-biodegradable materials out of landfills. Hopefully it catches on.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

If it had been left up to me, I doubt we'd even know they were edible.

...but I bet we'd have known if they made good dildoes or not.

 

[jackoroe]

Just don't make the car out of "Magic" mushrooms. We don't any trippin hippies out there on the roads.

 

[TheFireGod]

Oh yes, if I need of some mushrooms to help fight of any potential winter sicknesses, I will eat someone's car!

 

[Kulindahr]

Brilliant.

I wouldn't be surprised if the idea for growing mushroom-root doors came from a phenomenon I observed once when doing repairs to a house: there was a double-paned window that had cracked, so it leaked, and dust could get in. It had been that way so long that mushrooms and weeds growing along the rotting top of the frame had sent roots down into the space between the panes. When I started taking the window out to replace it, the broken pane fell out and the root map flopped free. It was tough and springy and very hard to tear.