This mushroom brick could replace concrete

[@VergeScience]

What futuristic building material should we look into next?

[@late-riser]

not futuristic, but presently the majority of the bricks around the world are made of clay, not cement

[@drdrew7475]

@@late-riser I wouldn't be so sure. Of course it depends on where you live but most building sites I'm familiar with (France) seem use bricks made of cement

[@Donpru]

I see the implementation, it's not impossible, it'll just do take a long process not unless they found a faster way to mass produce the same mushrooms

[@Donpru]

@@late-riser Not sure about most bricks are clay, pretty sure here in Asia(Philippines) we mostly use concrete bricks, same goes to our fellow neighboring countries, Heck we just pour down concrete itself.

[@henrywalke9129]

Polyactic acid plastocs

[@azhaanshaikh2007]

*Everybody is a gangsta until the building starts growing itself*

[@Donpru]

Thanks for the nightmare.

[@bruceluiz]

There is a concrete that already does that: it has bacteria that eats sugar and it "shits" kind of a biological concrete . Perhaps by mixing these two you can have a really biological active house!

[@Donpru]

@@Kazenikatze Golden sub-comment

[@azhaanshaikh2007]

@@Kazenikatze Imagine eating your own house😂😂

[@bricktea3645]

@@bruceluiz how r u gonna give it so much sugar?

[@kingmasterlord]

I know exactly what kind of mushroom related epiphany he had, lol

[@andysux1]

🤫

[@twr412]

I DON'T GET IT. NOT FUNNY.

[@floo1465]

@@twr412 “magic mushrooms,” most likely

[@johnshite4656]

I knew it from the moment he mentioned "medicinal."

[@Spacemonkeymojo]

A magic one.

[@pladmitry]

So, William desided to get into the science of mycology after tripping on shrooms? Cool

[@juanmare6738]

Well, me too.

[@alveolate]

but when will he do a black alert and activate spore drive?

[@StephenKoplin]

@@alveolate awesome reference

[@papasscooperiaworker3649]

I’ll probably do the same lol but trying to get with DMT first

[@KODO123PRODUCTIONS]

okokokokok

[@dreadnoughtus2598]

When you done the heat test it would have been better if you would have done the opposite and tested the clay brick for its heat protection as well. I'm not doubting the mushroom bricks proformas, just that I would of liked to have seen a direct comparison that's all

[@renaldiroekanto789]

Right, and if you water them would they spring back up? If its for buildings or construction. If it could then it would become deadly falling bricks. This seems like a publicity stunt for funds

[@sergitanderson7541]

I agree the heat/insulation test was not very good. I think most building materials would have performed the same, plus not catching fire? A comparission would have been good to know how it.... COMPARES :D

[@Sivah_Akash]

This video doesn't showcase it, but researches possibly would have already done these tests, plus the other tests like abrasion, expansion, etc. Since this has already been used in construction.

[@sergitanderson7541]

@@Sivah_Akash Then why not include this? If it is to show how good this material is at least providing the data from the papers. It seems their research wasnt very throrough?

[@Sivah_Akash]

@@sergitanderson7541, those tests require specialized equipment, which is difficult to do during the pandemic. Also I think the larger point of this video is to share that alternate building materials exist and not about the specific engineering behind them. I do agree with you that for folks who are a bit more interested in this, a more in depth comparison would have been nice. Also I do think the research wasn't thorough, maybe because this is still a new field?

[@MostlyPennyCat]

"experimenting with them for culinary value" Yep, we all been there, until they banned selling them in the shops

[@duwalagepasinduchamodyagun7552]

culinary and medicinal value

[@smashandburnyt6938]

@Ankit Meher psychedelic substance found in some mushrooms that's why

[@duwalagepasinduchamodyagun7552]

@@smashandburnyt6938 they can breed the psychedelics out the mycelium

[@1ordtyrannus886]

Mushrooms thrive off of dead animals and decompose them that should tell u something already

[@1ordtyrannus886]

Plus I think? Some of them obviously are deadly but some I think are associated with drugs

[@MsZqr]

For using mushrooms to become a viable building material, we should look at cost of the material, speed, durability, elasticity, and water/fire/heat/wind/cold-resistance of the material. When everything is good there is another problem and that is the transportation and the local production. If the material is harder to produce than concrete or locally sourced material, less developed countries will not try to use the new material.

[@dhruw9935]

they are experimenting

[@titanblooded6222]

Doubtful that its viable. Def going to take alot more time, and processes to make these mushroom bricks, def not sure i would buy any improved enviromental impact compared to its competitors

[@jasonnugent963]

@@titanblooded6222 There's still tons of research and experimentation that can be done. So the question of "viability" probably won't be conclusively answered for a while. Remember we've been improving the recipes and manufacturing methods of concrete for something like 1000 to 1500 years. Mushroom-architecture is pretty new by those standards.

[@naotamf1588]

...and storage and time. I've a lot of free storage room on my farm and I can wait half a year for a reasonable amount of building material, so I am going to try that.

[@simonphoenix3789]

​@@hypernewlapse still wouldn't come close to how cheap concrete is or how easy it is to make.

[@leonesperanza3672]

When I made my thesis in engineering I realized how serious the cement problem in construction. We literally don't have an alternative for a load bearing concrete. Everything shown in this vid is architectural, the structural materials are the most important.

[@Alendo]

As an engineer I struggled to watch this video. They asked the mechanical engineer for help to test the brick, but failed to give any proper data from the outcome of the tests. Stack the bricks on top and look at it to see how much it deformed? I mean, wtf, they didn't even bring anything to measure the deformation. Then they lit it on fire before they did a proper decompression test to check what sort of "yield strength" it had, neither did they give any sort of strength data from the other company that had made a bunch of these mushroom bricks. I'm just left sitting here shaking my head...

[@tboniusmaximus3047]

Lol and concrete is one of the most recycle able material in the world

[@Zyo117]

>we literally don't have an alternative Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I've literally got photo evidence of this, but here in Newfoundland where bedrock isn't very far down, I've actually found that the oldest buildings were bricked directly onto the bedrock itself. The building in question that I have photos from was a mixed use 3 floor building plus a basement. It was mined to foundation form with a pick and shovel and then built up from there.

[@Animal-yb1rr]

Do you know why people want to buy a building made out of this? Because there is "mush room" in there

[@piotrek5s170]

if you made this joke you are a dad

[@jonfrey9122]

Oh hey dad!

[@sommelierofstench]

no.

[@notorious_hectorius]

ba dum tsss

[@itsnotyasir]

And still there mush room for advances in the technology.

[@dreadnoughtus2598]

I feel like I've heard this idea before, the idea of making bricks from some sort of fibrous mushroom materials. I'm pretty sure this technology's been around for at least 10 years now

[@smashandburnyt6938]

Yeah saw that at the science fair few years ago

[@elangeluto]

Yeah, it's kinda stucked

[@Antenox]

Just because you saw it ten years ago doesn’t mean this isn’t new and innovative tech. It takes a long time to develop a new technology, and it takes a long time to get it to production.

[@dreadnoughtus2598]

@@Antenox and it takes a few seconds to copy something!

[@Catastrofius]

@@Antenox perfect answer

[@samcriss4854]

"Am I allowed to say anything" This is Verge not Vice 😂

[@seaweeded]

"I don't know anyone else who has made mushroom bricks before" Lady, literally the guy you just interviewed has made mushroom bricks.

[@rhettmelton]

@@oreoswithasideofmilk9703 7:17

[@umersalman1]

Anyone else implies other than the guy who is interviewing.

[@kingmasterlord]

Mycotexture has been a thing since the mid-2000s

[@thatunconsciousguy9306]

Paul Stamets is a passionate mushroom scientist on the west coast who thinks mushrooms are essential to saving the planet. Brilliant and a little kooky, he is great to follow as well.

[@cryalowicki]

I'd say I learned close to nothing factual, besides that you can turn mushrooms into brick shaped objects.

[@Juber777]

It's almost like someone wants us to forget wood..."grows on trees" .... now if we could probably log....*sigh*

[@finn8518]

@@Juber777 ahh yes, how has no one ever thought of using wood for building??? you‘re so smart dude

[@pakdhenar]

@@Juber777 yeah, considering that basically every large forests are burning down rn, that might not be the best idea for now

[@Juber777]

@@pakdhenar if they probably did fire prevention by logging all the "bug wood," they just leave dead trees everywhere, even after the fires they don't actually do maintenance on the forest unless it's colvert drains and "log brick"(logs chained together to stop river water eating the bank)

[@aidan6557]

The way the brick started disintegrating when she put the fire out isn't filling me with confidence

[@bri1085]

Americans make a lot of their homes out of wood anyway

[@lieutenantpepper2734]

Well if your house is on fire bricks are your last worry.

[@ooooo8265]

He likely forgot to mention psilocibe cubensis in his cultivated mushroom species

[@spookyconnolly6072]

"forgot"

[@adilator]

"Can I show you something?" - No The End.

[@smashandburnyt6938]

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY GEORGE LUCAS

[@timmelcer3094]

Founded by the people who care the Biden administration 😂10 billion dollars program

[@anggunzl]

hahhhaha

[@edwardharlem9588]

"Can i show you something?" "Well no, i'd rather you not" "Oh, ok.." "Nice brick"

[@bidaubadeadieu]

What a great topic to explore, and literally every person you interviewed, William, David, and Sonia, were all such cool guides for you to interview! Can't wait to hear more about their work, they seem like they're going places.

[@misticloulyra]

Best part is when the Lexus logo vanishes right when he talks about tripping on shrooms.

[@evillaust5839]

So hypothetically with this I can craft shroomite armor.

[@cactiman6593]

Or grow some mooshrooms off it

[@draugrdraugr]

What stops pests and insects just eating away the mushroom bricks?

[@eKSe1337]

Yeah and how do they think this will last +30 years without needing repairs ? What about heavy rains, cold temperatures (-20C or more), mold? This seems like such a far fetched idea.

[@mikeol510]

I'm generally curious as to how they plan on keeping the mycelium from degrading.. it seems like it would be the perfect medium for fungi to incubate.

[@KRYMauL]

@@eKSe1337 The same way we kept wood structures up for centuries, paint.

[@captaindak5119]

@Ankit Meher several animals eat fungi. Some fungi, for example chanterelle, mushrooms are edible for humans.

[@biomutarist6832]

@Ankit Meher we eat mushrooms, which are composed of mycelia.

[@RodrigoOshiro]

imagine having mushroom allergies and moving to a house made of them...

[@entyropy3262]

imagine to have a brain and actually use it...

[@MisterK9739]

You know that wouldn‘r be a problem at all? The bricks do not have any spores that could cause allergies and if you start eating your house, there is sth else wrong with you

[@sick000fight]

you'll still need the cement to merge those into walls.. right? right...

[@obidean3964]

But they can actually grow attaching each other like shown in that Paris exhibit which is insanely cool

[@shmadmanuts]

with composite non-fried clay bricks we used "composite" clay mortar (reinforced with barley husks) - totally sustainable come to think of it... we were much, much more eco-friendly in the nineties, when we were much poorer and did not have enough money for cement (other than for the foundation) :) (speaking of Moldova)

[@ekanastone]

Not necessarily

[@Vincent-pe3sf]

I don't think it can replace concrete, but it maybe will be used to build small buildings like the ones we have made from wood.

[@mattcy6591]

Since I was a kid I imagined it could be a suitable replacement for studs in wood framing. If you can get the fibers long enough and in one direction, you could get a product light enough and sturdy enough to replace wood.

[@KRYMauL]

Wood is actually very strong and can make much bigger structure, when engineered and reinforced properly. This would likely be able to replace brick, and if play our cards right, it could replace concrete. However, we would have to understand how tall the ancient giant mushrooms got to.

[@infopackrat]

I'm thinking it might be a decent replacement for the wood used in house construction.

[@sandworm9528]

But wood is already renewable???????

[@infopackrat]

​@@sandworm9528 Have you checked the cost on wood lately. Here in Canada it's ridiculous! About $50 for a sheet of plywood if your lucky. It was $75 for a long time.

[@macrumpton]

The idea that you can dump some wood waste and mycelium into a mold and come back few weeks later to have a strong, lightweight, insulating building material is pretty amazing. I imagine you could add some kind of reinforcing strands into the material to make it stronger in tension.

[@DarrenBates]

We need a full documentary on the mushroom guy. Absolute legend.

[@pandupujo3917]

There is a full fledged company called mycotech that create this kind of brick and many more

[@caronchester3144]

Maybe try mixing it with hemp to give it greater strength and for a greater capacity for fire resistance (as well as many other advantages)? Great work!

[@johndorilag4129]

Hemp may be a better building material and much more available

[@limacoshrooms3298]

I've seen cordyceps growing in my college's lab. It seems like a very delicate mushroom to isolate and grow in a lab, but in the nature it grows so easily. It's the biggest problem with trying to grow fungi in an isolated environment, it seems so frail and prone to contamination, while in nature it grows seemingly effortless.

[@MR-xy1gj]

This was fantastic. The introduction was really engaging and the guests were delightful. I would love to hear more about this topic. Thanks!

[@VergeScience]

Thanks for watching, Mike!

[@glachil7166]

Bruh, the mushroom brick caught FIRE

[@andrewprahst]

I really love bricks and brick bonds and all that. That being said, good old fashion terracotta bricks ARE sustainable and they can bear loads. They're made of dirt, the most readily available material on the planet. With that considered, I don't know what niche mushroom bricks are really trying to fill, from what I've seen. I think you would really have to utilize the fact that they grow to be useful. An idea I had was the fact that mycelium naturally bonds to wood, which is another building material. If you are really able to establish concrete level of strength, that could be a great natural combo.

[@MrWhangdoodles]

This was so unscientific. Good to know, but could you please do the tests better? This hurt.

[@lavaot5207]

I think this has a lot of potential to replace packaging such as styrophoam , and maybe be a good replacement to glass wool and acoustic foam , but I think it might be a waste of time to look at it like a building material , it's biodegradable and not very strong , I think they will be better of investing their time on these other uses .

[@YounRangr]

Imagine living in a mushroom villages like smurfs

[@tokiomitohsaka7770]

Next step is Telvanni, living in a giant mushroom houses.

[@schnizzyfizz7832]

"I have cultivated over 35 species of mushrooms, Cordyceps militaris, Tolypocladium ophioglossoides, Grifola frondosa, Hericium erinaceus, Hericium americanum, Panaeolus cambodginiensis, Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocybe cyanescens, Pholiota adiposa, jeeez there's so many latin names..."

[@zakquinn5420]

2:36 what's funjaiiiii?

[@SDLearmonth]

you sound like a funjai at parties

[@smashandburnyt6938]

2:14 Cordyceps fungus Everyone who played last of us: Don't mess with that or else, you'll become a clicker

[@ricande]

- Verge Science: "This mushroom brick could replace concrete" - Me: Nope. This is the last time you will ever hear about it.

[@DemeDemetre]

keep in mind the word "could"

[@youyouch3146]

Everybody gangsta till the concrete starts playing terraria music

[@Flakka-]

I know a mushroom scientist, he's a really fun guy

[@TheX-3d]

This is one of those times where mushroom experts are super heroes!

[@katiefrisk980]

imagine a self growing house. “oops, spilled some sugar on the floor! ah well, guess we’ll be growing a new table by next month

[@Zyo117]

That sounds like the premise for a Goosebumps book tbh.

[@onebeets]

its all normal until nintendo starts growing toads out of this

[@jonassch4223]

William lowkey the most chill dude ever

[@btr9969]

Turning mushrooms into bricks? Didn't we hear that somewhere before?

[@Munchies2019]

Grounded fan?

[@allo5auru5]

What's next, clay bricks?

[@shmadmanuts]

:D

[@Vedrajrm]

The tests were soo unscientific. Not what I expected from a "science" channel

[@tbtb66]

Mojang: "Write that down, write that down!"

[@MostlyPennyCat]

OK, but, what if you want your buildings to last a long time? Will we have to stick to concrete for that?

[@fionafiona1146]

If you keep fungi dry they might last longer, if you don't the rebar might still endanger the concrete building.

[@theoptimysticka531]

Wow! I help the neighbor with his wood furnace, and he brought a load of wood, with many mushrooms turned to wood, on the trunks of the locust trees!!! How fabulous that I find this (or did it find me?) Thank you!

[@smashandburnyt6938]

Wake up, Verge Science We have a mushroom brick to make

[@altheaunertl]

Even if this needs another decade or more of development and testing, or can only be used for certain temporary builds, we very much need new building materials from "green" (renewable) sources! I'm very excited about the potential of this science.

[@Spark_Plug17]

Probably it's gonna be very expensive. This cannot become an alternative if it not cheaper than normal brick

[@altheaunertl]

@@Spark_Plug17 Like I said, it needs more development. We don't even know if it could be cheaper or not because it's so early in development.

[@Max-qf2hf]

Can this brick self-regenerate? They did put it in a oven and so fungus are probably dead but it'd be cool to see a self-repairing brick.

[@1004k]

The miracle of regular concrete is it can be same heat transfer rate as steel pole support. If mushrooms concrete don't have this, then no more skyscrapers.

[@migonavarro8239]

My reaction as a recent highschool graduate. "Ah, I wish I had a research idea as good as this."

[@brunomoutinho962]

This feels like a child’s idea of what research is, I’m sure you’ll have a better one

[@jimmyshrimbe9361]

Awesome video and what an awesome guy!

[@Naiuhz]

It would be amazing if fungus could replace a fraction of plastics.

[@otsok]

That sounds very nice and all, but I wonder how much would large scale production of these bricks compare to the production of concrete..

[@awsometech7431]

Cement hardens by taking back co2 out of atmosphere. But you know. Someone did not pay attantion at school

[@simachmasgof8445]

BRICK

[@keith4430]

This is the most unscientific testing I've ever witnessed on the internet.

[@hbarudi]

Interesting, but issues such as durability problems over long time will arise once it gets used in a building. The original species of fungi used is growing on a tree and consuming wood from that tree to reach such sturdiness, which is why wood is used as a building material. Mixing wood pieces and this fungi might make for an interesting combination in addition to some rock mixed in.

[@vattanackong]

Imagine how long it takes to make a brick

[@1ordtyrannus886]

The issue with this is you don’t need to feed bricks, the thing of mushrooms is they normally thrive off of dead bodies. But the thing being no one is going to actually feed this fungi and when it’s in mass production they may start to fall short of their potential

[@1ordtyrannus886]

I mean I’m not 100% sure how you’ll kill the fungi so it stays completely still and not overgrow or how it’ll grow as time goes on im not sure if it’s a wise decision to replace concrete with this

[@senselocke]

Dude, that Druid has crazy high Charisma.

[@kunalrakshit2812]

Possibilities are limitless. There have been instances of brick from waste materials, plastic as well. We need to stick to these alternate ideas and make them mainstream.

[@flyingpigmonkey1]

Excuse me, cordyceps is off limits for experimentation, thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[@koltoncrane3099]

Here’s the thing. Concrete and steel began being used because using only stone or brick they could only go four or so many stories high. They use hemp or even straw in making walls for homes that only have one floor. It’s more to fill in the walls rather than providing tons of structural support I believe.

[@andreipop1]

the question is.... can you travel at an instance through the mycelium network? Star Trek

[@pedrofroes4044]

asking the real questions

[@Lord_Magikarp]

The Brick is the most interesting thing on the net Mushroom brick: wait for me

[@LashanR]

I don't think I've seen anything more "nature-is-metal" than a mushroom that kills insects 😳

[@aliur4630]

It s not killin them, is growing on dead insects

[@cx24venezuela]

The cordiceps mushroom make infected insects suicidal zombies to grown in his bodies

[@bri1085]

@@cx24venezuela infected insects aren't suicidal per se, they're just being eaten from the inside out

[@Space_Garbage]

It would of been a better story to cover how David Benjamin produced so many bricks, his experimentation on the structural properties, and the challenges he faced. That would of been more informative and convincing then someone's backyard experiments. As others have said, reproducibility, cost, and structural properties will need to be matured severely to be a competitor for bricks alone (forget about poured concrete). I'm sure there are researchers looking at ways to produce greener concrete so that would erode further interest in this area.

[@Nullzeros]

My first question when she said it was a mushroom was “can you eat it?” followed up by “so someone can eat you out of a house then now huh?”

[@NuII-v8n]

Imagine coming home and all the bricks to your home is gone.

[@aidenwindham9390]

He Said “experimenting with them for medicinal use” 😂😂 me to my guy

[@muhammadzazulirizki1000]

When he mentioned the mushroom's names in latin, some of them sounds like magic spells lol

[@Hurileno]

Some are indeed magical

[@muhammadzazulirizki1000]

@@Hurileno one of them gave him the epiphany lol

[@ComputeCrashers]

As soon as someone says they are connected to nature and fungi and they're talking about how they grow mushrooms, you know they've had some psychedelic experience

[@otavioluis5774]

Terraria : I have see this one Scientists : How you see it's already new.

[@HAWXLEADER]

He seems like a pretty fun guy!

[@Ryan-pp7gs]

I have a question Does it smell like Mushroom soup or some mushroom dish?

[@VergeScience]

Hey! It had a slightly earthy/woody smell, but mainly because the substrate that we grew it in was sawdust-based. Once it baked, most of that smell went away and it was mostly odorless.

[@Ryan-pp7gs]

@@VergeScience Oh thats super Interesting thank you so much for replying it really made my day

[@chasjetty8729]

Very good. It’s high time fungus began pulling its weight.

[@NewKingBrandon]

Ok, I was legitimately impressed with the stress test.

[@artinpoetsoulnature]

Very beautiful! Thanks!🌱

[@tdtrecordsmusic]

mycelium also uptakes minerals. This whole process is likely 1 step away from making a fire-brick which is "pre-fired" .

[@lancetheking7524]

"I found someone who does" this is gonna go an interesting direction

[@Naiuhz]

Imagine a mushroom brick house burning down and its occupants too high to escape the building.

[@simone222]

This is very cool. PS: Reminded me of my high school science project or when we experimented with cow dung as bricks.

[@florac.6784]

What type of high school science project was that??

[@simone222]

@@florac.6784 We had investigative science projects during our high school years and the cow dung bricks plus the dental floss from water lily fibres were the special ones I truly enjoyed doing.

[@florac.6784]

@@simone222 That actually sounds really interesting!! By the way, did the cow dung smell bad?

[@simone222]

@@florac.6784 If it's already dry, then it doesn't smell that too bad anymore. I'm saying this as an olfactory hypersensitive. lol

[@JesusChrist42000]

Its good to see someone from the cities find a love for nature and a passion for science using nature.

[@-Rickster-]

Hemp/paper pulp aircrete would be a fantastic alternative whilst this is investigated further

[@xertzanima3750]

It's all nice but remember basic rule in civil engineering is "to make structure strong and durable make it heavier" that's how roman structures stand tall till this date.

[@Ryukachoo]

*Stardew valley ost: "the smell of mushroom"(fall) starts playing*

[@onemorechris]

5:57 I can't find more info on that second Paris exhibition with the growing bricks. I've googled, read about the acquisition of The Living, been on David Benjamins wikipedia page. Does anyone know what its called?

[@thomasolson7447]

I didn't know black locust can get that big. I thought they all died within 10 years. That's a very important tree. It's a legume, so it supplies the surrounding trees with nitrogen. It's a good hardwood.

[@domramsey]

William seems like a fun guy.

[@88farrel]

This madlad is going to turn a normal house into a half life alyx map

[@aravindbalamurugan1124]

Invasive mushroom species introdused by the bricks is a new can of mushrooms to deal with