Mushrooms Could Power Future Eco-Friendly Computers, Study Suggests

In a blend of nature and technology, researchers have found that mushrooms — known mostly for being the life of the party in college dorms all over America — can make miniature computers, or at least objects that behave like them. The scientists at The Ohio State University were able to grow and train shiitake fungi, which do a dance to switch between different electrical states thousands of times per second, like computer chips. The memory devices made from mushrooms are not only fully biodegradable but also cheap, eventually leading to hopes for an ecological future in computing where nature itself would be the processor.

Mushrooms Mimic Brain Function in Breakthrough Toward Sustainable Living Computers

According to a report published in PLOS One and presented by The Ohio State University team, the fungi were developed to act as organic memristors—tiny components that store data based on previous electrical activity. Lead researcher John LaRocco explained that these biological circuits could reduce standby power consumption and lower production costs. He said that developing such microchips capable of imitating brain-like activity offers “a major computational and economic advantage”.

Fungal electronics are also an emerging trend in green computing and sustainable computing because of their biodegradability properties, resolution of e-waste issues, and honouring of eco-friendly technology breakthroughs.

Scientists used dehydrated mushrooms to control electric currents, achieving nearly 5,850 switching states per second with 90% accuracy. Multiple mushrooms performed more stably, resembling human brain communication.

Fungal computing could serve larger systems like aerospace missions and wearable devices, with future studies aiming to improve cultivation methods and reduce device size.