CNN News: 可分解材料

Since the 1950s’, humans have produced over 9 billion tons of plastic. Most of that is ending up in landfills and could take centuries to decompose. A miracle material found in nature could be the key to reducing plastic waste, it’s called mycelium and it comes from mushrooms.

自20世紀(jì)50年代以來(lái)，人類已經(jīng)生產(chǎn)了超過(guò)90億噸的塑料。這些垃圾中的大部分最終被填埋，可能需要幾個(gè)世紀(jì)才能分解。在自然界中發(fā)現(xiàn)的一種神奇的材料可能是減少塑料垃圾的關(guān)鍵，它被稱為菌絲，來(lái)自蘑菇。

EBEN BAYER, ECOVATIVE CEO: Mycelium is like the root structure of a mushroom. You’re used to seeing a mushroom above ground. Mycelium is like the roots beneath it but no one had ever tried to use them to make materials.

菌絲就像蘑菇的根結(jié)構(gòu)。你習(xí)慣了在地面上看到蘑菇。菌絲就像它下面的根一樣，但是從來(lái)沒(méi)有人試圖用它們來(lái)制造材料。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eben Bayer is the CEO of Ecovative, a company that has developed a way to grow mycelium into specific shapes and sizes. They start by taking organic plant waste and mixing it with mycelium cells which act as a sort of natural glue.

Eben Bayer是Ecovative公司的首席執(zhí)行官，該公司已經(jīng)研發(fā)出一種將菌絲培育成特定形狀和大小的方法。他們首先將有機(jī)植物廢料與菌絲細(xì)胞混合，其中菌絲細(xì)胞作為一種天然粘合劑。

BAYER: The mycelium grows through and around those particles and it binds them together and you’ve got a grown product.

菌絲體在這些顆粒的周圍生長(zhǎng)并將它們結(jié)合在一起就得到了一個(gè)成熟的產(chǎn)物。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ecovative mycelium products provide a natural alternative to packaging materials made out of plastic and Styrofoam.

生態(tài)菌絲體產(chǎn)品提供了一種天然的替代塑料和聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料包裝材料。

BAYER: But at the ends of its useful life, you can actually break it up and you can put it in your own garden. So it’s - - it’s a nutrient not a pollutant.

但在它的使用壽命結(jié)束時(shí)，實(shí)際上可以把它拆開(kāi)，可以把它放在你自己的花園里。所以它是一種營(yíng)養(yǎng)物質(zhì)而不是污染物。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ecovative wants to take mycelium to the next level.

Ecovative希望將菌絲提升到下一個(gè)層次。

BAYER: Our current technical focus is developing the next generation of mycelium materials from (inaudible) scaffolding, to leather like materials, even meat replacements.

我們目前的技術(shù)重點(diǎn)是開(kāi)發(fā)下一代菌絲體材料，從腳手架，到皮革類材料，甚至肉類替代品。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: AKA, mycelium bacon which is still in its testing phases. The company thinks mycelium could also play a major role in construction and even in regenerative medicine.

AKA，又名菌絲體培根，目前仍處于試驗(yàn)階段。該公司認(rèn)為菌絲還可以在建筑甚至再生醫(yī)學(xué)中發(fā)揮重要作用。

BAYER: It really has boundless possibilities and it comes from its ability to move from the micro scale to the macro scale.

真的有無(wú)限的可能性，無(wú)論是微觀尺度還是宏觀尺度。