* the proposal is to mix the fungal spores when pouring concrete, in the hope the spores remain dormant in concrete pores. When cracks form and water/mositure seeps into the cracks, the spores germinate and produce calcium carbonate deposits that "fix" the cracks.
* The article notes that more research is required before this mechanism is proven to work; it has been showed to work in petri dish/controlled conditions
* Probably won't fix existing infrastructure as it requires to be mixed with concrete when its poured.
> Probably won't fix existing infrastructure as it requires to be mixed with concrete when its poured.
Exactly. Using the term "fix" here is disingenuous to the actual research being done.
This is simply research into a fungal addititive which if added to concrete could prevent cracks from worsening.
What is likely to happen if they ever figure out how to add it to concrete is that the life span of concrete structures will be upgraded accordingly and the neglect will stay at it's present level until the new and improved structures start to fail.
Increasing the life of concrete structures would be a boon to civilization, but it's worth noting that crumbling infrastructure in the United States is more the result of poor planning than technological limitations. The nation routinely over-builds its infrastructure beyond its ability to maintain it.
I wish adults rather than politicians were allowed to run things, this is getting ridiculous; a billion dollars over budget and pretending they can afford to spend on more roads. Insane.
It's kind of both, or either. If maintaining roads servicing a neighborhood will cost $10k/yr per house in property taxes, the unwillingness of constituents to service that tax load is an inability of politicians to levy that tax.
Beyond the issues the article acknowledges, and the misleading implication that this would help fix existing roads/bridges, I see two large question areas:
* The claim is that the spores would be "dormant" until cracks appeared and brought water to them. How exactly does that happen? What ensures the calcium carbonate grows ONLY in the cracks? Why would this not lead to uneven/bumpy roads?
* They say that the spores would probably get crushed in existing concrete blends, but maybe we could add air bubbles to the mix. I'm not a material scientist, but I'd guess that taking something with 1 micrometer holes and making them into 4 micrometer holes would have impact on the resulting material.
I'm not saying that the research isn't worth pursuing, but it is a bit of a smell that such questions aren't even acknowledged in the article.
Mushrooms won't fix our crumbling infrastructure. But planned obsolescence might.
The biggest problem our crumbling infrastructure faces is the cost of aging: most heavily trafficked bridges are nearing the end of their expected lifespan, 11% of our bridges are structurally deficient, and we don't budget enough money to keep up with the backlog of bridges to repair. As bridges are allowed to age and maintenance is deferred, the cost to repair them triples. And since it's so expensive, we get lost in debate over whether we should replace them.
If we designed our infrastructure to actually collapse at a set time, it might instill the correct level of panic for government to actually fund and repair our infrastructure before it kills people and burdens the economy. Without a deadline, government just waits for the eventual emergency.
Interesting idea, but if I understood correctly, it doesn't seem like this could repair existing crumbling infrastructure. Rather it might be useful in preventing new infrastructure from crumbling.
Sounds like an interesting solution. The article does point out that this is very early, petri-dish stage, and that there is a significant problem in that the concrete could crush the shrooms when it sets.
* the proposal is to mix the fungal spores when pouring concrete, in the hope the spores remain dormant in concrete pores. When cracks form and water/mositure seeps into the cracks, the spores germinate and produce calcium carbonate deposits that "fix" the cracks.
* The article notes that more research is required before this mechanism is proven to work; it has been showed to work in petri dish/controlled conditions
* Probably won't fix existing infrastructure as it requires to be mixed with concrete when its poured.