[DIYbio] Re: Moss shower mats, maybe also door/welcome mats?

That's a pretty sweet idea.  How about recycle your old yoga mat (which is closed cell foam, wash the surface first) as the base layer.  A used foam might be better than new foam, or at least let the new foam do some out-gassing first, as I believe closed cell foam is treated prior to shipping (with anti-fungals) and could use a bit of airing out before using it for biology purposes.  For those who don't have an old yoga mat yourselves then use your girlfriend's mat, she's not doing yoga anymore like she should be and she has two newer extra mats anyway.  Alright, for those of you with neither yoga mats nor girlfriends, you can use your old camping mat, though I recommend keeping that because it has a higher purpose, and starting yoga to solve the other problems instead.


## Jonathan Cline
## jcline@ieee.org
## Mobile: +1-805-617-0223
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On Sunday, March 22, 2015 at 6:26:14 PM UTC-7, Nathan McCorkle wrote:

I just thought about this when I saw my door mat to my house's back
door half-covered in moss... I did a bit of searching and came up with
this:
http://thegreenbeagle.com/diy-moss-bath-matt/11563

basically using two layers of a closed-cell polyethylene foam called
plastazote (I found it on Amazon.com) that total to about 2 inches
thick. The top layer has patterns cut out and is then glued to the
bottom layer with hot-glue.

This seems like such a perfect idea... I wonder if there are 'cleaner'
mosses than others (are there plant mechanisms for phagocytosis of
e.g. dead foot cells?)... or maybe some that are more resilient to
physical stress (like people wiping their muddy boots).

Maybe the moss wouldn't be able to phagocytose the dead foot skin
cells that slough off when you get out of the bath/shower and step
onto it, but would they increase the risk of foot infection with
fungus/bacteria?

I'd like to think infectious organisms would somehow be displaced by
any plant-associated organisms, assuming the infectious (to skin)
organisms aren't happy living on plants.

--
-Nathan