Oct 26, 2025
3 min read
Fungal Networks may be a promising method for small metal devices used to process and store digital memories and other computer data, according to a new study.
Mushrooms hold promise as memory chips for future computers
Fungal networks could be a promising alternative to the tiny metal devices used to process and store digital memories and other computer data, according to a new study.
Mushrooms are known for their great farm and unique properties.Their inherent capabilities make them perfect examples, the obvious point is, for the next generation of computers, can help make exciting new applications.
For example, Ohio State University researchers recently discovered that common edible mushrooms, 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 exhibit the same reproducible memory effects as semiconductor-based chips, but can also be used to create other types of low-cost, environmentally friendly computer components inspired by the brain.
"If you can develop microchips that mimic real neural activity, you don't need much for standby or when the machine is not in use," says John Larocco, M.D. and author of Psychiatry at the Ohio State College of Medicine."This is something that could be of great potential computational and economic benefit."
Lacocco.Because they require less waste, they reduce sub-items, and they require more efficient energy from data centers.
"MySelium as a computational substrate has previously been examined in less intuitive locations, but our work is trying to push one of these memory systems to its limits," he said.
This study was recently published in the journal Plos One.
To explore the potential of the new memristors, the researchers grew samples of shiitake and button mushrooms.After ripening, they are dehydrated to ensure long-term viability.
"We will connect electrical wires and probes to different points on the mushroom because some of its parts have different electrical properties," said Larocco."Depending on the voltage and connection, we see different performances."
After two months, the team found that when used as RAM - a computer memory which stores data - their memals for values up to 5,850, which is more than 90 percent accurate.
Overall, his research papers are really amazing and preserve mushrooms to do unexpectedly and effectively Ohio State Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.In addition, it is an example of how technology can advance when it is based on nature.
"The neighborhood has greatly feelings to protect our location and how shall we keep us for the future generations.
Building on the functionality provided by flexible mushrooms also suggests the possibility of expanding fungal computing, Tamina said.For example, large mushroom systems can be used for edge computing and aerospace research; smaller ones are used to enhance the performance of autonomous systems and wearable devices.
Biomemories are still in development, but future work could streamline the production process by improving cultivation methods and miniaturizing equipment, as viable fungal memories would need to be much smaller than what the researchers achieved in this work.
As you begin to promote Rocco's research, Compost piles and some home electronics companies or pre-made molds are skill plants."We are viable with the resources we have now."
More information: John LaRocco et al, Continuous memristors from shiitake mycelium for high-frequency bioelectronics, PLOS One (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328965
Information file: PLoS PRIMA
Offered at Ohio State University
