Scientists turn mushrooms into living memory chips
In a step toward greener, biologically inspired computing, researchers from Ohio State University have developed sustainable memory devices made from shiitake mushrooms, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The study, published in PLOS One in October 2025, details how fungal mycelium (the dense web of filaments that forms a mushroom’s root network) can function as a “memristor,” a type of circuit element that mimics the brain’s ability to remember and learn.
Memristors are essential building blocks for neuromorphic computing - hardware that processes information in ways similar to neurons and synapses. Traditional memristors rely on rare-earth materials and costly semiconductor fabrication. By contrast, the fungal version is entirely organic, biodegradable, and inexpensive to grow, offering a potential path toward computing systems that are both intelligent and environmentally sustainable.
How it works
The team cultured Lentinula edodes (shiitake) mycelium in nutrient-rich organic media, including wheat germ and farro, under controlled humidity and temperature. Once the fungal network matured, it was dried and later rehydrated to restore its electrical conductivity. Electrodes were attached to the fungal matrix to test its response to electrical signals.
When voltage was applied, the fungal samples displayed “memristive” behavior, meaning their electrical resistance changed based on previous inputs, effectively allowing them to “remember.” This ability was stable even after dehydration and rehydration, suggesting that the mushroom-based devices could be stored for long periods and reused. The fungal chips retained memory performance with up to 90 ± 1% accuracy and operated at frequencies as high as 5.85 kHz.
Why fungi?
Fungi’s unique biological makeup makes them ideal for bioelectronics. Their networks of hyphae naturally transmit electrical impulses resembling neural spikes, allowing them to adapt to environmental changes and store information. Moreover, the carbon-rich structure of shiitake mushrooms provides high conductivity once activated, a property already leveraged in energy storage technologies such as supercapacitors.
The study also notes that shiitake mycelium is both sustainable and biodegradable, unlike conventional semiconductor materials, which generate toxic waste. This aligns with a growing scientific effort to replace metal-oxide-based electronics with bio-derived materials that decompose naturally, reducing electronic pollution.
From Earth to Space
One of the study’s more surprising findings is the resilience of shiitake mushrooms to radiation. Compounds like lentinan, a structural polysaccharide in their cell walls, appear to protect the fungi from ionizing radiation and oxidative stress. This biological resistance could make fungal electronics suitable for aerospace applications, where cosmic radiation often damages conventional chips. The researchers suggest that fungal-based systems might function in extreme environments while consuming far less energy than silicon devices.
Although the current prototypes are relatively large and manually assembled, the researchers believe the technology can be miniaturized and scaled. They envision using 3D-printed cultivation templates to grow fungi directly into specific electronic architectures and integrating electrical contacts during the growth process. Preservation methods such as freeze-drying or coating could further extend device lifespan and performance.
Earlier, Kazinform News Agency reported that scientists created next-generation “superwood”.
