Post by Marc Violo

Cloud seeding has relied on toxic silver iodide for years, but fungal proteins could hold a sustainable answer 🌧️ 🍄 A newly identified class of fungal proteins has been found to be able to trigger ice crystal formation at relatively warm subzero temperatures. Published in Science Advances (Eufemio et al., 2026), this research opens doors across cloud seeding, frozen food production, and cryopreservation. Cloud seeding has been used since the 1940s to trigger rainfall in areas afflicted by droughts and suppress hail around airports. The standard agent (silver iodide) works, but it's toxic, raising regulatory and environmental concerns when applied at scale. A biological alternative has been a long-standing goal. Proteins isolated from fungi in the Mortierellaceae family nucleate ice at warmer subzero temperatures than most synthetic agents. Critically, unlike bacterial equivalents which require whole cells, these proteins are cell-free and water-soluble, meaning they can be isolated as a single, well-defined molecule, a vital distinction is significant in any regulated application. Three immediate verticals emerge: #CloudSeeding weather modification programmes replacing silver iodide; frozen food manufacturing freezing at higher temperatures with lower energy use; and #Cryopreservation of biological materials including embryos and tissues, using a naturally derived, lower-toxicity alternative to current chemical agents. However, applying fungal ice-nucleating proteins in clouds at meaningful concentrations may influencing weather patterns in ways that current models don't account for. Knowing the protein's molecular structure makes atmospheric surveying far more predictable. From the forest floor to the atmosphere, fungi's reach just got a whole lot bigger. 🚀 Read more: https://lnkd.in/eKDpqgsG Tag or send this to a climate scientist or biotech investor who should be watching this space 👇 🚀 #MycoStories #FungalBiotech #IceNucleation #Mycology #WeatherModification #ClimateScience #Cryopreservation #FoodTech #BioInnovation #GreenChemistry #Biotechnology #FungalScience #ClimateModelling #SyntheticBiology #Sustainability #NatureTech #EmergingTech #LifeSciences #AgriTech #DeepTech