John LaRocco / The Ohio State University
Fungal memristors could be ideal interfaces for high-frequency bioelectronics
Organic neural systems lead to lower energy costs and faster calculation speeds.
As fungal networks they can constitute a promising alternative to the tiny metallic devices used in the processing and storage of digital memories and other computer data.
The conclusion comes from a new study, conducted by a team of researchers at Ohio State University (TOSU) and published earlier this month in the journal PLOS ONE.
Os mushrooms They have long been recognized for their extreme resistance and unique properties. Their innate abilities make them perfect specimens for , an emerging field that, for next-generation computing, could help develop exciting new materials.
In the new study, researchers found that common edible fungilike the cogumelos shiitakecan be cultivated and trained to function as organic “memristors”a type of data processor capable of remembering past electrical states.
Their findings demonstrated that these shiitake-based devices not only presented reproducible memory effects similar to semiconductor-based chips, but can also be used to create other types of low-cost computing componentseco-friendly and brain-inspired.
“Being able to develop microchips that mimic real neural activity means that not much energy is needed for standby mode or when the machine is not in use,” he said. John LaRoccopsychiatry researcher at TOSU and lead author of the study, at the university.
“This could represent a huge computational advantage and economic”, adds the researcher.
A is not a new concept, but it has become an ideal candidate for developing sustainable computing systems, LaRocco said.
This is due to the fact that minimize electrical waste because they are biodegradable and cheaper to manufacture than conventional memristors and semiconductors, which often require expensive rare minerals and large amounts of data center power.
“O mycelium as computational substrate It has been previously explored in less intuitive configurations, but our work seeks to push one of these memristive systems to its limits,” he explained.
Each sample developed a mycelial network which was hooked up to conventional electronics — something that sounds vaguely familiar to fans of ““, the ship that travels instantaneously (as far as Man has ever gone before) through the universe and to other multiverses using a mycelial network.
To explore the capabilities of new memristors, researchers cultivated samples of shiitake mushrooms and button mushrooms.
Once mature, they were dehydrated to ensure long-term viability, connected to special electronic circuits and then electrocuted at various voltages and frequencies.
“We called electrical wires and probes at different points of mushrooms because different parts have different electrical properties“, explains LaRocco. “Depending on voltage and connectivity, we saw different performance.”
After two months, the team discovered that, when used as RAM (the computer memory that stores data), its mushroom memristor could switch between electrical states at up to 5,850 signals per secondwith around 90% accuracy.
However, performance decreased as the frequency of electrical voltages increased, but like a real brain, it could be fixed by plugging more mushrooms into the circuit.
Overall, your research details how It’s surprisingly easy Programming and preserving mushrooms to behave in unexpected and useful ways, says Qudsia Tahminaco-author of the study and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at TOSU. Furthermore, it is an example of how technology can advance when it draws on the natural world.
“Society has become increasingly aware of the need to protect our environment and ensure we preserve it for future generations“, says Tahmina. “So this could be one of the driving factors behind new bio-friendly ideas like these.”
Betting on the flexibility that mushrooms offer also suggests that there are possibilities for expand fungal computingadds Tahmina. For example, larger mushroom systems could be useful in edge computing and aerospace exploration; the smallest in improving the performance of autonomous systems and .
Organic memristors are still in early development, but future work could optimize the production process improving cultivation techniques and miniaturizing devices as viable fungal memristors would need to be much smaller than what the researchers achieved in this work.
“Everything that would be needed to start exploring fungi and computing could be as small as a compost pile and some homemade electronics, or as big as a grow factory with pre-made models,” says LaRocco. “They are all viable with the resources we have in front of us now.”
