Fungi, including mushrooms, are easy to grow almost anywhere, and can be used for many things other than just food. In fact, some people think mushrooms could change the world.

For example, mycelium, the roots of mushrooms, can be grown around a frame to take a specific shape. It's light and strong, which makes it a great replacement for plastic and other materials.

People are already making all kinds of things from mycelium. One company, Ecovative Design, uses it to make things like compostable packaging, foam that can be used for parts of shoes and bags, and even replacements for leather and meat. The company also worked with the Ford Motor Company to make car parts out of fungus.

Katy Ayers, a student at Central Community College in Nebraska, has made a canoe by growing mycelium around a canoe-shaped frame. The 2.4 meter boat is waterproof and floats like any other canoe — but it's still alive, and grows mushrooms after each time it's used in the water. Ayers thinks finding more uses for mushrooms is a great way to help the environment.

Mushrooms can certainly help the environment by cleaning up waste. In 2011, students from Yale University found a mushroom in the Amazon that could survive by eating only plastic. It doesn't need oxygen, so it could be used to get rid of plastic waste at the bottom of landfills. More than 50 other plastic-eating mushrooms have since been found.

NASA is even researching ways to use fungi to "grow" buildings on the moon and Mars. It says that fungi-based materials could be stronger than wood, more flexible than concrete and good for insulation — and they could even protect against radiation. Because they could be grown at the destination, they would also be less heavy to transport, and because the buildings are alive they could repair themselves or easily be extended later.