Fungi-Grown Textiles Hint at Self-Healing Garments

A Science Advances paper demonstrates a platform for living textiles built from Cordyceps militaris sandwiched between films, augmented with pigment-producing Saccharomyces cerevisiae and melanized Aspergillus niger to enable UV blocking and environment-responsive color. While promising for self-healing fabrics, the work is early-stage and has not yet addressed washability, abrasion resistance, breathability, or wearer comfort, and it’s framed as a foundation for future research (with additional context from De Zeen).