Researchers inspired by the 1984 film The Terminator have created a living skin made from a fungus. The skin, which can sense light and touch, could one day be used as a sustainable and biodegradable sensor for electronics.
Electronic sensors that can detect stimuli such as light, temperature and humidity are often made from silicone and are complex to manufacture. They are also limited to detecting a few things at once, says at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain.
Living organisms, such as fungi, however, are much easier to produce and can feel a much larger range of stimuli at the same time, including touch, temperature, humidity and light levels, says Gandia.
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As a result, Gandia and at the University of the West of England in the UK decided to develop a fungal skin and test it out on a model of the Terminator.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this scene in The Terminator in which they implant the skin on the robot. The skin is external to him, yet it reports data to the robot and auto-repairs,鈥� says Gandia. 鈥淲e wanted to show that we can already do things like that.鈥�
The pair cultivated a species of fungus called Ganoderma sessile, which is a mycelium that can grow in tough conditions, on top of a liquid. They then coated an 18-centimetre-tall Terminator model in agar, to encourage fungal growth, and dipped it into the liquid to cover it with the fungus. They incubated the model for about a week to ensure the fungus was healthy and continued to grow.
After just five days, the fungus successfully blanketed the entire surface of the model, creating a fully organic skin. When the pair attached electrodes to the model, they found that the fungus was sensitive to light and touch, producing different electrical signals in response.
Gandia hopes this research will be a step towards using fungi as a natural sensor in other places, such as buildings that can self-regulate temperature or personalised wearables that can monitor the body. 鈥淢ycelium is alive and responsive. We can think of it as an ally, as a tool,鈥� he says.
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