Slashdot Mirror
Rubber from Mushrooms
Abhishek writes "The Hindustan Times reports that researchers at Gunma University, west of Tokyo, have produced rubber from the chichitake mushroom and the end-product has the advantage of not containing a protein that can cause allergies, according to Hiroshi Mitomo, head of the research team at the university's biological and chemical engineering department. The only obstacle is the high production costs which the scientists wish to conquer pretty soon."
At first glance I simply thought the editor had grossly mispelled shiitake. After all, they're pretty damn rubbery in the hot-and-sour-soup from the local chinese place.
Apparently, the chichitake mushroom is a completely different fungus. Also called the "Tawny Milkcap mushroom", as it produces "a white 'milk', or sticky latex, seeps out and turns brown when the gills are cut".
The condom flavour for gourmets!
..when someone glosses over the fact that shit is, well, shit.
From your link: "This doesn't hurt the spores, which are deposited in a nice, nutrient rich, wet and warm package to start reproducing again."
Sounds appetizing.:-P
picpix image polls. create - share - vote. fun!
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
Mmm, fried vulcanized mushrooms. Not much different from calamari I would imagine.
I'm tasting the pencil eraser made from these shrooms right now, and it does taste pretty good. Hey wait, this isn't a pencil at all, it's a giant kangaroo...
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
Most mushroom allergies are specific to one kind of mushroom. So unless she is allergic to chichitake mushrooms, she should be able to use them with no problem. Since the current alternatives to latex gloves are inferior, this could be a real boon to the health care industry. Even if they are not completely allergy free for everyone they will at least provide an alternative.
As someone who knows several people with latex sensitivities varying in intensity from rashes to anaphylactic shock, I applaud any attempts to find an alternative material. (Heck, I even develop contact dermatitis if I wear latex gloves for extended periods.) This is one area in which I think that people would pay at least a little extra for a safer product.
Doing my level best to piss off the religious right wing...
"Also, the mushrooms are not grown commercially, are found only at the height of summer and rot after only about 10 days."
a friend recently told me about his business idea to grow mushrooms, mostly edible. the plan consisted of: a very clean greenhouse, tree log, spores to be plugged into log.
the chichitake was on the top of his list to grow for cash. he seemed to think it was possible.