Dress made of living mycelium can renew and repair itself

Neat. Wearing some hibernating Cordyceps clothes seems like a good way to speedrun some life-imitates-art The Last of Us gain of function research.

I wonder if there is a health hazard wearing this due to breathing in spores or toxins released into the air? Or perhaps there is a risk that the wearer will absorb harmful chemicals secreted by the mycelium via contact with the wearer's skin? Very interesting none the less. I have imagined humans making living clothes for a long time, so it is nice to see that idea materialize.

The claim in the article that saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer's yeast) naturally produced the deep blue color in the butterfly example is not actually true, although it's a gorgeous effect.

These are genetically engineered variants of brewer's yeast designed to produce pigments.

I would buy one, but I don’t think I have mushroom in my wardrobe for it.

Cordyceps, huh? An interesting choice! And ironically the subject of an article on Ars Technica that just dropped...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/parasitic-zombie-fun...

Mr Stamets (both real AND fictional) must be proud as heck!

This would turn into a mould infested nightmare

How does it smell though?

Is there a possibility of the organisms escaping the material and infesting the environment? That's what I would worry about with mycelium.

Could they make a house out of this?

Is there an adjective for something that's nifty but also gross?

> nutrient solution is applied over a hole, along with a small patch of fresh fungus

So, not repair itself.

Pretty disgusting tbh.