You’ve found a treasure!
Mushrooms as raw material
First take a screenshot of the treasure picture to add it to your collection of resources. To do so, just scroll down a little.
You’ll also learn lots of exciting facts about lithium, a treasure of the future!
You don’t quite get what this is all about? Then take a look below to find out how you can take part in the treasure hunt!
Take a screenshot here!
Interesting facts about mushrooms as raw material
✨ Welcome to the realm of mushrooms! From chanterelles to foot fungus – scientists don’t even know how many different fungal species exist on our planet. Mushrooms can do a lot – here are a few examples:
A house that grows
Researchers have developed building blocks from mycelium. More precisely, by mixing fungal tissue, such as the glossy ganoderma, with wood chips or other plant waste. The mycelium feeds on the sugars contained in the other material and, within a few days, forms a dense, sponge-like substance of interwoven cell threads.
This substance can then be formed into various shapes and condenses into a solid structure over a few days. Subsequent drying stops the growth of the fungus and kills it. What remains is a structural substance similar to bone.
This structure can be used as a building block and can even enable the growth of walls. Eventually, the goal is to build entire houses from this material.
Numbers games
Did you know that?
A little flavour
Flavour from mildew: strawberry flavour can be achieved by fermenting fungi. The fungi release enzymes that convert organic substances into compounds with a strawberry-like aroma – for example, the blutenolide furanone.
Zombies
The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis turns insects into zombies. It infects tropical ant species and takes control. The fungal hyphae penetrate the ant brain and from then on determine the animals’ behaviour. The ants climb up trees and finally latch on to them. The fungus grows out of their heads, killing the animals. This allows the spores to spread and infect other ants.
Hard to digest
Some species of fungi, such as Pestalotiopsis microspora from the Ecuadorian jungle which is still little-researched, could help tackle the problem of increasing plastic pollution. This fungus is able to decompose the plastic polyurethane. Intensive research into its potential is currently being carried out in Ecuador and the USA. However, the results are not yet sufficient to save the world from the flood of plastic waste.
Come with us on a treasure hunt!
This is what it’s all about:
Futurium’s current annual theme “Treasures of the Future” is all about raw materials. To celebrate this theme, we’ve joined forces with Berliner Stadtreinigung to transform selected BSR waste bins into “treasure bins”. With the help of our treasure map, you can discover them throughout the Berlin city area. The QR codes on the treasure bins conceal a total of five different raw-material treasures that need to be collected.
This is how you take part:
1. Open the treasure map here to get the GPS coordinates of all the treasure bins in Berlin or to select a prepared route where you are guaranteed to find all five different treasures.
2. Search for treasure bins in the city and scan the QR codes.
3. Take screenshots of the scanned resource treasures.
4. Collect the complete set of five resource treasures. (Here’s a little spoiler: the fifth treasure can only be discovered at Futurium!)
5. Come to Futurium for even more exciting knowledge about raw materials.
What are you waiting for? Grab your smartphones and off you go! Have fun with the “Treasures of the Future”.