Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic?

[droidclone]

There is 1 issue I see with this. The casings are made with plastics. I think that @vjacq88 is right about hemp, as it could be used to make the molds so you don't even need to use plastics. You just need enough demand so that they will be able to create a network of companies working and supplying the product; molds and the final product. You need a tax break to get more momentum.

[tonyjohnbradley]

We can combine this with seeds, bioluminescent bacteria, and cyanobacteria to make amazing living architecture!!!

[ilovegarlic77]

Awesome talk, I signed in just to give you 'thumbs up'!

[01heritagejojo]

... thank you... :-)

[simysimss]

you have some great stuff here

[rodswebdesign]

love the video really good

[shoppittsburghnow]

interesting video and very informative

[LongJohnTippah]

It's funny to say that this could be the future, but it's been naturally occurring for billions of years!

[crosswind76]

Proud to be the 1000th person to LIKE this video :)

[shoppittsburghnow]

good work here

[simysimss]

some great inforamtion here thanks

[andreeaweed]

they are AMAZING and really easy to understand them !

[TheMuranzo]

And I'm not exactly a green person. I recycle, save water, and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, the main goal is to turn a profit. If this can do that without use of finite resources, then god bless it, and ill use it right away. But it has to be profitable to work. Remember that when you yap about 'alternative' energy. That needs to get a whole lot cheaper before it will ever take off.

[TheMuranzo]

As long as it is cheap to make. The last thing we need in this economy is another expensive product that no one wants, but the government forces us to use. But assuming its as cheap as he says it it, great work!

[WileyVincent]

thats my cousin and whatnot!

[ripjohnnyc]

so muhc plastic in his factory lol

[xtfcr7]

Why the 17 dislikes? This discovery should be viewed as revolutionary, not to be shrugged off.

[babylonoise]

does TED mean to eventually die?

[SpasmFunnel]

Is anybody trying to grow mycelium into moulds at home without the machinery? It would be rather awesome to produce mushroom dummies.

[jhtrico1850]

shroom farms wee

[skeight976]

i love mushrooms, and hate plastics and money

[DreamsCatcher101]

Amazing idea.

[annoloki]

The moulds that the corner pieces are grown in... look like they're made of plastic :-p

[Pumpkinjews]

@annoloki it's alright. Now thats a use for plastic!

[33200]

@annoloki yeah but you reuse that plastic 

[annoloki]

@33200 Point.

[sukablianah2]

and...nothing happens? Why dont great ideas get recognition

[UrbanJamjar26]

So when do I get some Chitin Armor?

[TimHortonsCookie]

In borat terms: WaWAweeeewwawawawawwaw!!! really amazing wow. I really hope it catches on.

[Indigozek]

Amazing.

[FGGTZORZ]

ebay buyer. srsly.

[thesparitan]

fora tv and the ted talks might be the most awesome sites on youtube

[roidroid]

isn't there a (lung health) problem with fungus spores? Or do only the fruit (mushrooms) produce those

[vjacq88]

How about HEMP!

[zhongguohua88]

This looks great in theory but how much would it cost in comparison to the more traditional materials? Even though it is more 'Earth friendly' I doubt business would buy this if it wasn't cheaper or at least the same price as plastic or Styrofoam.

[wbillich]

@zhongguohua88 I completely agree with you, however, its not an issue of marketability it is an issue of sustainability. Whether or not you agree with the concept of global warming (that is to say you think that all the top scientists in the world at the recent Copenhagen conference are incorrect) I think we both can agree that our resources are finite. Cheap or not, we are going to simply run out of options, probably in our lifetime, so making technologies that are sustainable is necessary.

[FLUSEM666]

@zhongguohua88 Good point. However, I think the idea would be that farmers who have the raw material as waste. Either individually or collectively set up the small production lines. Thereby reducing their own waste disposal bills. Manufactures initially would have a tax incentive to buy the product until production costs start falling.

[missmakael]

@JoesephKatana A bacteria that breaks down plastics already exists in our landfills, just not in our oceans.

I think this is a great idea. Even if you were to use plastic forms they'd get reused over and over again. 5-day growth cycle is no problem. Have several stages of product under production/growth at a time, and once used it's compostable. Awesome.

I would like to see more videos of different product and specs on acoustic or fire-retardent properties, etc.

[Dragonslayerkk]

someone give this man a cookie.... not a medal.... they arent bio degradeable

[SirAldrech]

Incredible!

[lockitkitten]

wow, this is great! this is part of the future

[tommyboomboom]

what are the moulds (tools) for the stuff made from? looks like ordinary plastic. how is the power to clean & chop the feedstock generated?

[tempo3rd]

@Eben Bayer YES. In fact the Thai have already been using muchrooms to solve the world's population problems for fifteen years. Way to be current, Bayer!

[Vortex42]

Absolutely brilliant!

[watzupdawg]

Wonder how long the before Hippies revolt and start using materials which cant be recycled. Better still ... eating mushrooms with no psychedelic effect. Once a rebel always a rebel. 

[xtaporx]

does it smell bad ? its a serious question.

[potofgravy]

tl; didn't watch. Is this guys name E. Bayer?

[bestplugins]

those videos are great and interesting,, but all jokes of every talking guy are the same kind. I think they all have the same writer...

[ShadowCloud143]

This is the future I want to be apart of.

[axelasdf]

Now make a beverage cooler out of it.

[Saktoth]

@axelasdf

You throw these out a lot? Its the stuff with a large throughput that you need to replace first.

[axelasdf]

Wow. Plants capture photons. Nailed the hammer on the head there. (I know I didn't say nail.)

[axelasdf]

I'm pretty sure I've seen a degraded styrofoam cup.

[Saktoth]

@axelasdf

It just gets broken into smaller and smaller pieces.

[DavidSabine]

@axelasdf Styrofoam does not biodegrade. That is, its molecular structure will take many thousands of years to collapse.

[axelasdf]

@DavidSabine

I've only seen it degrade mechanically, through the motions of the ground. If it's dispersed, it goes much quicker.

[XanSimpson]

Petrol belongs buried underground, and thus belongs in the trash. Oil in the air is the true evil, not a landfill. THROW AWAY YOUR STYROFOAM AND PLASTIC BAGS! The mass of plastic in the Pacific is from plastic put in rivers (your storm drain), or plastic thrown in the sea by grown third world Pacific Islands with largely unused landfills.

[trafficlightblind]

Holy. Shit. I just spent 15 minutes reading through this giant comment board and it hit me -- this is a vast wealth of VOLUNTEER MARKET RESEARCH!

...This talk should be rerecorded with these things included: mention the cost (of course it'll compete and win, we just need to throw a wrench in a few plastic factory gears at the right moment), mention safety precautions (if any), and also bring some potato-starch packing peanuts and chow down. Now will everyone please SHUT UP?!

[mewlink64]

As a mycologist, I am intrigued.

[brunozi]

15 plastic company CEOs have seen this video

[JayJaguar]

PERFECTTTTTTTTtttt, Congratulation with this super idea..... I realy think there has to be something like a world idea-database where people can put their own idea to help the invironment. good or bad, doesnt matter, just place your idea in the WorldDataBankInvironmentIdea and lets see how fast change can go. Best idea's dont come out of nothing...they are beeing chaped out of bad idea's first or other excisting idea's in general...... Let the Human Collective Brainstorming Sessions begin, Peace

[momentinpassing]

@JayJaguar I agree. From time to time there is a great idea-database in some part of the world. It is called a well-regulated market. If in this example, pollution and non-renewable resources were priced or regulated in a sane manner, polystyrene would never have gone into production in the first place.

[Chikinstick]

notice he never mentioned the cost...

[sjkdec18]

No way am I eating my froyo out of that sh!t.

[MissSatyaDanu]

this rocks !!

[iamyouareme22]

THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO GREEN

[OpakeArawra2]

i fucking love this video :3

[timmyteoUF]

T.F.A.

(Totally F*cking Awesome)

[DeadWhiteButterflies]

That random person at the back who cheered on their own at the start is a legend.

[thockoro]

I love this, I hope we come up with a some manufactured bacteria that can decompose and digest plastics. that would be awesome.

[FGGTZORZ]

at first glance i thought his name was ebay buyer.

[Azureim]

I wonder what is the cost comparison?

[FGGTZORZ]

@Azureim well since they technically spend nothing on production (mushrooms grow themselves), i don't think it would be that different. The only problem is that they dont have these types of manufacturing companies everywhere :[

[oneworldfamily]

E Bayer: you've been outbid.

[eonnoe]

would it cost more and what about countries restrictions on fungi through customs?

and maybe magic mushroom related issues?

[Storhonta]

Love his name

E.Bayer

[Mrmoc7]

@BornWhiteSupremacy

troll

[doloppost]

How does the cost compares to styrofoam? If it can be made more cheaper: then a good public PR campagne would do the trick; otherwise its either chatting with the CEO's (like ... whatshisname) or government regulation. I am actually waiting for the first company to see some money in harvesting the plastic sea.

[anoutsideobserver]

I've always called it polystyrene

[MRL1985]

What does customs think of this?

[kaushiksays]

Genius

[spekticat]

It appears that 14 people work for the styrofoam industry. This is absolutely wonderful, amazing, beautiful. Having things like this guilt free is like being able to eat birthday cake every day and never get fat. Also, it's great science!

[MrJaiLeeworthy]

If implemented on a grand international scale, this product will have a colossal effect on the environment.

[MrJaiLeeworthy]

i can see Paul Stamets will just want to eat this guy

[paramoretwilight101]

fantastic idea! when need more people like him.

[eclipsgum]

Smart and cute.

[postjam]

this guy came up with this idea while on shrooms.

[jappanpreeti]

this guy should me a millionaire for this idea 

[UKNMajor]

@jappanpreeti He either is or very near it, that facility he has is not cheap that's for sure.

[pallybear]

Great idea! But hmmm... fungus uses oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. Wouldn't that contribute to global warming after millions of fungus farms emerge?

[mnagmobile1]

@pallybear would be less than having millions of barrels of oil burn :p Many people don't realize CO2 emissions mostly come from farming/livestock... but this method (CO2 or not) would still be better than having plastic clog the earths natural respiration system... I'm sure they could grow a few trees around the farm to offset ;)

[kurtieboy4]

very good. I'm happy they've done this

[magicboyb]

I Bet it is really expencive also I am not shore what good it is going to do. 

[nurlanagabek]

is he in any way connected to Paul Staumets??

[starwarsgeek8]

@nurlanagabek he should be!

[kapa1611]

isn t there a problem with this? for example... wouldn t this stuff start to decompose if you would use it as insulation for your house? wouldn t this be bad... and not replace plastic at all? ....or maybe i m just missing something : )

[xzaz2]

@kapa1611 He never said it would replace plastic, most plastic solutions now can be replaced by this more nature friendly solution.

[kokofan50]

@kapa1611 not iff you keep it dry and keep it right

[ryty0591]

@kapa1611 right now he is saying to use it to replace packaging material in shipments and such, mainly to replace Styrofoam and plastic wrap. but it's possible to make it for house insulation too i bet, as long as you grounded it and there was a source of nutrition - time will tell.

[TheSpankymonkey]

Why can't they just grow it at one big factory, wrap it im styrofoam and send it to where they want. hehe.

[spongebathe]

what are the allergenic properties of this material?

[ar9514]

@spongebathe 

[Admiralandrian]

Use magic mushrooms!

[Rundfunk90]

it will be funny if they watch this video in 1000 years and compare how far off we are.

[AbdultheImpailler]

Cool idea!

[lordrazi111693]

question? wouldn't this stuff keep growing? so if i throw it in my garden it would become a mushroom?

[wallcolours]

I'm a bit concerned. Everything says the major contributor to greenhosue emissions is farming, especially small scale farming. Encouraging that seems counterproductive...

[lordrazi111693]

@wallcolours where do u get this? i always thought it was big big factories.

[diraska]

@wallcolours

I think this process takes advantage of wastes already generated by those farms. This process merely takes advantage of what would normally go to waste.

But good point none the less. This is process is not a cure all for the environment,

[FreedomValentine]

@BornWhiteSupremacy ten thousand years at least... i'll just do what lewis black did. pick up a fossil and point to it and say, "fossil". as a supplementary point, i'll point at nebular theory and the sticking together of planetesimals. ten thousand years... hmph.

[awesimo2000]

5 days to grow - time is money - packaging is not a good direction for this- not cost efficient due to storage of product while it matures maybe better for construction such as insulation product

[SimontheSorceror]

@awesimo2000 Yeah 5 days are too much because the materials (regarded as investments) has not just a cost but an opportunity cost too and 5 days really brings up the opportunity cost

[WhichDoctor1]

@awesimo2000 At the moment time is money. In the future energy will be money. 

[shaunofthadead]

@awesimo2000 Well the fact that it is biodegradable would deter people from using it as any kind of insulation or anything where it has to maintain it's structure for long periods of time.

[SimontheSorceror]

this guy is really HOT!

[Vitaminnn07]

@SimontheSorceror

what kind of mushrooms did you have to eat to say that

[michalchik]

He might have something here.

[holyscythe]

If it's cheaper, people will use it... Clearly it's not cheaper lol

[Zetimenvec]

@holyscythe

I'd bet it's not cheaper because there aren't as many facilities prepped to mass produce them. If the two were equal in production capability, I'd think it'd be a different story.

[Harshfate]

this is great!

[Ormaaj]

notice how he never talked about cost. If you can't produce it as cheaply nobody will use it.

[Durchbrechen]

BornWhiteSupremacy wrote: "the earth is only 7 thousand years old". NOPE. The earth is one day old only. It was created yesterday with all the animals, peoples, their memories, ruins and remains of their alleged past and book histories. God, in person, told me so this morning.

[steve0281]

@Durchbrechen Interesting theory. How would you prove it? Or disprove it?

[Durchbrechen]

@steve0281 You cannot prove it and you cannot disprove it either. It's a quite famous example of unfalsifiable theory (barring the fact that is is true because God revealed it to me together with many other things I'm going to write down in a holy book).

[IdleBystander1]

@Durchbrechen does that go for today as well?

[umalim]

@Durchbrechen xD

[rubixcubesolve]

@Durchbrechen no becausei didnt go to sleep yesterday. disproved

[Durchbrechen]

no need of sleeping. When you are not there isn't anybody aware of being not. Then, at once, you are created already with the memory of your past, convinced of having been here before. All was created in this way, even leaves half way of their falling off trees.

[justintempler]

Did TEDStalks director make up the the title or was it Eben Bayer?

..

Are mushrooms the new plastic?........NO

Are mushrooms the new styrofoam?...... maybe.

..

The 25% of landfill space (if it is even correct) refers to ALL plastics.

Styrofoam is not all plastics. In fact I'd be willing to bet the majority of plastic in landfillls is from plastic drink bottles, not styrofoam.

..

BTW styrofoam can be recycled, maybe the real mistake is putting it the lanfill in the first place..

[FreedomValentine]

@justintempler The title is usually the author or presenter's own, since many of these presentations/speeches are also released in academic publications.

[LiquidFriction]

11 people own plastic companies

[BBQPeanut]

This guy sounds like his lungs have no capacity whatsoever. He needs to take a breath in between every 3 words..

[Keeban3]

The important thing is price. How can he not mention price?

[LIVEETERNALLOVE]

@Keeban3 Biodegradable 'plastics' cost less. I buy them in bulk from China.

[clearmenser]

@LIVEETERNALLOVE "cost" is not just money.

[LIVEETERNALLOVE]

@clearmenser The comment I was responding to, is an inquiry of "price". My reply describing "cost" is the proper context to address the concerns of the original commenter. In my experience, biodegradable/eco-friendly 'plastics' are "priced" less than toxic plastics; and the scientific evidence proves toxic plastics "cost" more in every relevant context.

[buttersworth13]

@BornWhiteSupremacy Creationist says what?

[mmsayre]

holy shit this is fantastic.

I wondering if there are any issues with biological fowling during use, though. Or a potential of contamination of a packaged product.

Anyone know if there is some process used to halt the activity of the mycelium after it has filled its forming mold? Any health hazards?

[Sinuev1]

That polypropylene packaging materials don't biodegrade does give it a unique advantage that isn't readily apparent. It is extremely resistant to diseases and food stock for other organisms. Switching to organic packing materials such as shown above will solve one of our most important waste management issues, but it may introduce new problems by opening fertile niches for parasites, diseases, and bacterial contamination to exploit... potentially limiting it's use or posing a health threat.

[Canonpixmalogitechko]

He didn't mention how much CO2 mushrooms produce, or what species of mushroom he was growing. Still, I'm all for growing mushrooms. He should grow morels, that would be awesome. Buy yourself something with these corner blocks, toss them in the garden, get yourself a feed!

[JohnWoo]

@Canonpixmalogitechko

Compared to styrofoam, it's still a big step forward.

[Canonpixmalogitechko]

@JohnWoo For sure

[azinvazn123]

LOL this guys name is E.Bayer. I wonder what his favourite online shopping site is :P

[superfisto]

cheese

[theNewCodingFrontier]

"I say far less because 10% isn't going to cut it. We should be talking about half, a quarter, one-tenth of the energy content" Isn't one-tenth 10%...

[mortiphago]

@theNewCodingFrontier

10 percent less (90% total) , not 10 percent total.

[theoriginalanomaly]

@theNewCodingFrontier No, cutting 10% is a reduction of 10%, Using 1/10th the energy content is a 90% reduction.

[theNewCodingFrontier]

@theoriginalanomaly Well if you think about it logically, I guess you're right x3

[Chemicalogic]

It's nice to see some innovation that doesn't require drilling a mile beneath the ocean.

[shadywalker]

Ahhh styrofoam.. the missing gray matter. Probably makes up 99% of dark matter across the cosmos lol.

[dangerouslytalented]

The good thing is, that some bacteria is going to evolve a way of feeding from styrofoam, just like nylonase is doing. However, this is not happening very quickly.

[washaway]

can you eat it?

[ArgoSG]

@washaway Yes. You can eat paper, as well.

[OnEye]

I love him .. and his work 

[Segee]

but the shape where it grows in.. IS PLASTIC.. ;P

[warmics]

@Segee I was thinking the same thing hahaha

[vraciudude]

@Segee it's being reused

[dookiecheez]

I always new Styrofoam was pure evil, making me shiver whenever it rubs against something, especially more Styrofoam. To the same extent I always new mushrooms were pure awesome, drugs, food, decomposes stuff, makes magical fairy rings among other magic things.

[TragedyZ]

@dookiecheez

The shed is a lame way to get to Zanaris anyways.

[dookiecheez]

@TragedyZ

Huh?

[TragedyZ]

@dookiecheez

In Runescape there is a magical fairy land that you can get to called Zanaris by using magical fairy rings made of mushrooms. You can also get to this fairy land by walking into a shed while wielding a magical staff.... magically

[dookiecheez]

@TragedyZ

Ah, I was referring to the ring shaped growth patterns of mushrooms which were previously thought to be caused by fairies, hence the name fairy rings.

[CurtHowland]

As people invent better materials that cost less than plastics, those who use them will reduce the costs of their products in order to undercut their competition.

The problem is vested interests in control of the force of govt to protect their profit margins against competition.

[CurtHowland]

Potato plastic has been around for years.

Starch packing peanuts, I used to freak out coworkers by eating them out of shipping boxes.