Future Computers Could Grow Their Own Memory – from Mushrooms

Computers run on silicon and metal. Mushrooms grow in soil. Yet now, scientists are finding that one could stand in for the other.

Fungi might replace parts of the machines that shape our digital world. The idea sounds strange until you realize how intelligent and resilient these organisms are.

At The Ohio State University, researchers found that edible mushrooms such as shiitake could act like organic memory chips. When connected to circuits, the mushrooms stored and processed information like a living brain.

Study lead author John LaRocco is a research scientist in psychiatry at Ohio State’s College of Medicine.

“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 LaRocco.

The fungal chips performed surprisingly well. Each could switch electrical states thousands of times per second with high accuracy.