""We would connect electrical wires and probes at different points on the mushrooms because distinct parts have different electrical properties,""
""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,""
""That's something that can be a huge potential computational and economic advantage.""
Researchers at Ohio State University cultivated and trained shiitake and button mushrooms to act as memristors, electronic components that retain information about previous electrical states. Custom circuits connected to dehydrated fungal samples replicated memory behavior typically seen in semiconductor components. Different mushroom parts exhibited distinct electrical properties when electrical wires and probes were attached. Mushroom-based memristors achieved switching frequencies up to 5,850 times per second with approximately 90 percent accuracy, with performance degrading at higher frequencies. Connecting multiple fungi improved stability and produced networks compared to neural connections. Organic memristors offer energy-efficiency and sustainability advantages, but a substantial performance gap versus silicon and practical challenges remain.
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