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https://news.osu.edu/powered-by-mushrooms-living-computers-are-on-the-rise/>
"Fungal networks may be a promising alternative to tiny metal devices used in
processing and storing digital memories and other computer data, according to a
new study.
Mushrooms have long been recognized for their extreme resilience and unique
properties. Their innate abilities make them perfect specimens for
bioelectronics, an emerging field that, for next-gen computing, could help
develop exciting new materials.
As one example, researchers from The Ohio State University recently discovered
that common edible fungi, such as shiitake mushrooms, can be grown and trained
to act as organic memristors, a type of data processor that can remember past
electrical states.
Their findings showed that these shiitake-based devices not only demonstrated
similar reproducible memory effects to semiconductor-based chips but could also
be used to create other types of low-cost, environmentally friendly,
brain-inspired computing components.
“Being able to develop microchips that mimic actual neural activity means you
don't need a lot of power for standby or when the machine isn't being used,”
said John LaRocco, lead author of the study and a research scientist in
psychiatry at Ohio State’s College of Medicine. “That's something that can be a
huge potential computational and economic advantage.”
Fungal electronics aren’t a new concept, but they have become ideal candidates
for developing sustainable computing systems, said LaRocco. This is because
they minimize electrical waste by being biodegradable and cheaper to fabricate
than conventional memristors and semiconductors, which often require costly
rare-earth minerals and high amounts of energy from data centers.
“Mycelium as a computing substrate has been explored before in less intuitive
setups, but our work tries to push one of these memristive systems to its
limits,” he said.
The study was recently published in the journal
PLOS ONE."
Via Esther Schindler.
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
