Researchers at Ohio State University have developed organic memristors using common edible fungi like shiitake mushrooms, which can process and remember electrical states, pointing toward their potential in bioelectronic computing.

Fungal electronics are increasingly attractive due to their biodegradability and low production costs, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional semiconductors that rely on rare minerals and high energy for manufacturing.

The study involved culturing, dehydrating, and electrically stimulating mushrooms, revealing that different parts of the fungi exhibit distinct electrical properties, and performance can be improved by connecting multiple mushrooms in circuits.

Connecting multiple mushrooms enhances stability at higher frequencies, mimicking neural connections, which suggests scalability for applications like edge computing, aerospace, autonomous systems, and wearable devices.

These mushroom-based memristors are dehydration and radiation resistant, capable of operating as RAM at frequencies up to 5,850 Hz with approximately 90% accuracy, demonstrating durability in various environments.

The devices can switch electrical states up to 5,850 times per second with about 90% accuracy, showing promise for eco-friendly, brain-like computing systems, although performance declines at higher frequencies.

This bio-based approach offers advantages such as low power consumption, integration of memory and processing, and environmental friendliness through biodegradability.

The shiitake mycelium memristors exhibit neural-like electrical properties, including adaptive signaling similar to neuronal spiking, making them suitable for neuromorphic architectures.

Potential applications include scaling for edge computing, aerospace, autonomous systems, and wearable devices, with future goals focused on miniaturization and improved cultivation techniques.

Future efforts aim to refine cultivation methods and reduce device sizes to enhance the viability of fungal components as microchip alternatives, from small experiments to large-scale culturing.