Mushrooms Could Be Used to Create Future Computer Chips
The next big leap in computing technology might not come from a sleek Silicon Valley lab — it could come from a mushroom patch. Researchers at The Ohio State University have discovered that common edible fungi can be grown and trained to function like memory components inside a computer. Their findings, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, suggest that mushroom-based electronics could one day offer a greener, cheaper alternative to the metal chips that currently run our phones, laptops, and tablets.
To understand why this matters, it helps to know what a memristor is. A memristor is a tiny electronic component — the name combines "memory" and "resistor" — that stores information about electrical signals that have passed through it before. Imagine a sponge that remembers exactly how much water it absorbed last time, and uses that memory to decide how much to absorb next time. Memristors work in a similar way with electricity, and they are considered one of the most promising building blocks for the next generation of computer hardware. What the Ohio State team showed is that mushrooms can act as natural memristors, without needing to be manufactured from rare or expensive materials.
The research team grew samples of shiitake and button mushrooms, then dehydrated them to preserve their structure. They attached the dried mushrooms to custom electronic circuits using fine wires and probes connected at different points along the mushroom's surface. Different sections of the mushroom had different electrical properties, which gave the team a surprisingly flexible system to work with. By running controlled electric currents through the mushrooms at varying voltages and frequencies — frequency meaning how rapidly the electrical signal pulses per second — the researchers could observe how the fungi responded and adapted.
The results were impressive. After two months of experiments, the mushroom-based memristors could switch between electrical states up to 5,850 times per second with roughly 90 percent accuracy. Performance did drop at very high frequencies, but the team found a clever fix: connecting multiple mushrooms together restored the system's stability. That behavior closely mirrors what happens in the human brain, where networks of neurons — the brain's communication cells — work together to maintain reliable signals even when individual cells struggle. Lead researcher John LaRocco pointed out that mimicking this kind of neural activity means the system uses very little power when idle, which could be a major advantage for energy efficiency.
One of the most compelling reasons scientists are interested in fungal electronics is the environmental angle. Conventional computer chips are made from semiconductors — materials like silicon that conduct electricity under certain conditions — and producing them requires rare minerals, significant energy, and industrial-scale manufacturing. When old devices are thrown away, those chips become electronic waste, or e-waste, which is one of the fastest-growing waste streams on the planet. Mushroom components, by contrast, are biodegradable, meaning they break down naturally without leaving toxic residue. They are also inexpensive and relatively easy to grow, which could make advanced computing technology more accessible to people in many parts of the world.
The research team also sees potential for mushroom circuits to be scaled in different directions. Larger fungal systems could find use in edge computing — processing data close to where it is collected, like in a sensor in a forest or on a farm — or even in aerospace exploration. Smaller, more refined versions could improve wearable health devices or enhance the performance of autonomous robots. Co-author Qudsia Tahmina, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State, noted that society's growing awareness of environmental issues is pushing innovation toward bio-friendly solutions like this one.
Scientists are clear that mushroom computers are still in an early experimental stage. Future work will focus on refining how the fungi are cultivated, shrinking the components to make them competitive with current chip technology, and improving accuracy at higher speeds. But the lead researcher offered an encouraging thought: everything you would need to start exploring fungal computing could be as small as a compost heap and some basic homemade electronics. The raw materials are not locked away in rare mines or restricted factories — they are growing in forests and gardens all over the world, waiting to be put to work.
Source: ScienceDaily