A small wheeled bot rolls across a cold lab floor, with its five legs pushing it from behind. These robots, looking unremarkable at best, have one defining factor that drives home their scientific significance: they are powered by king oyster mushrooms.
The succulent, meat-like fungi, commonplace in Asian cuisine, can power complex machinery, begging the question: how was this technology developed, and what are its potential applications in the future?
Researchers at Cornell University developed two robots powered by the king oyster mushroom’s root-like threads, mycelium, connecting to and powering the robots’ hardware. Mushrooms are typically grown in dark, wet environments, being very sensitive to light. These robots respond to environmental changes, harnessing the electric signals that mushrooms’ mycelium creates in response to light exposure. Although scientists are unsure why mycelium can generate electricity, many speculate that this biological response resembles hedgehogs’ lengthening and retracting their spikes.
While this has been a major scientific breakthrough in the field of biohybrid robotics, scientists use this discovery to look toward the future, hoping to change the input of this reaction from light to chemicals. Agricultural scientists and farmers see a particular use for this technology through quality checks of soil to avoid overfertilization, limiting runoff and other pollutants from entering public waterways, and providing soil health records.
While this technology has many practical applications in today’s society, we must consider the possible ramifications of rapidly advancing biotechnologies on our environment and the planet. If scientists were to use an invasive species of mushrooms to inspect the soil quality of the Amazon Rainforest because the mushrooms lack natural predators, the fungi would overrun native species, throwing off the trophic chain.
The introduction of a new species to lower levels of the trophic chain could also cause disastrous effects for species higher on the chain; with fewer predators, the new species has the unfiltered power to continue growing, which creates less food for species higher on the trophic chain, decreasing populations for secondary and tertiary consumers.
So, what does this mean for us as citizens of planet Earth?
As consumers and potential future users of this technology, there must be caution when scaling up research and development efforts. Regardless of the utility of this technology, throwing off an ecosystem’s trophic chain, diminishing food supply, and further destroying our planet are consequences that should not be taken lightly. The human race has an ethical responsibility to protect the home we have, regardless of the interests of a distinct few. Thus, we must hold the trailblazers of their field accountable for their creations.
Hindsight is always 20/20; it is up to us to decide whether we’re on the right side of this new technological development.
