Experimentation & learning through doing

This card encourages you to experiment, using failures as valuable feedback and learning through hands-on experience.

• Do you use feedback from failed experiments to improve your biodesign project?

• Does hands-on experimentation help you better understand the behaviors of living materials?

• Has a failure in your biodesign work ever led to an important breakthrough?

Mycelium

Many companies across various industries — such as fashion, food, construction, packaging, and consumer goods — are exploring the use of mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi, for its fully biobased nature, high strength-to-weight ratio, and biodegradability. However, mycelium is sensitive to contamination and environmental changes during its growth, making an understanding of its behavior crucial for success in these industries.

• Experiment in a hands-on, iterative, fast-paced manner, but observe and study in a slow-paced, procedural manner to learn the behavior of materials under different or changing conditions. 

• Tips&Tricks: TT1, TT2, TT3, TT9