4 ms·

The lab that’s growing mushroom computers

22 points by danboarder 4y ago

junon 4y ago
Stopped reading at the picture of the mushroom motherboard. I don't doubt this is something interesting and real but it's just an x86 machine with a bunch of mushrooms jammed into the heatsinks, for seemingly no reason whatsoever. It's not explained from what I can tell. What a weird article.
- vageli 4y ago
  That's popsci for you. There is a worthwhile section on slime molds beyond that image but all in all the article was pretty light on details (though links to additional sources are present and appreciated).
- klyrs 4y ago
  That photo looks like it was ripped from an April Fools article. I agree, this is a bad look for what is otherwise interesting science.
warkanlock 4y ago
An exciting article, although you need to pass through the trap they put in the first picture. I trust humankind will find its ways through mycelium
mrtweetyhack 4y ago
[dead]
danboarder 4y ago
It is pop-sci, but to skip past the fluff and get to the meat of it, there are some interesting links to research further in the article, like this one: Towards fungal computer: Abstract We propose that fungi Basidiomycetes can be used as computing devices: information is represented by spikes of electrical activity, a computation is implemented in a mycelium network and an interface is realized via fruit bodies. In a series of scoping experiments, we demonstrate that electrical activity recorded on fruits might act as a reliable indicator of the fungi’s response to thermal and chemical stimulation. A stimulation of a fruit is reflected in changes of electrical activity of other fruits of a cluster, i.e. there is distant information transfer between fungal fruit bodies. In an automaton model of a fungal computer, we show how to implement computation with fungi and demonstrate that a structure of logical functions computed is determined by mycelium geometry. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2018.0029#d3e581 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.201...

22 points by danboarder 4y ago

Stopped reading at the picture of the mushroom motherboard. I don't doubt this is something interesting and real but it's just an x86 machine with a bunch of mushrooms jammed into the heatsinks, for seemingly no reason whatsoever. It's not explained from what I can tell. What a weird article.

vageli 4y ago
That's popsci for you. There is a worthwhile section on slime molds beyond that image but all in all the article was pretty light on details (though links to additional sources are present and appreciated).
klyrs 4y ago
That photo looks like it was ripped from an April Fools article. I agree, this is a bad look for what is otherwise interesting science.

warkanlock 4y ago

An exciting article, although you need to pass through the trap they put in the first picture. I trust humankind will find its ways through mycelium

mrtweetyhack 4y ago

[dead]

danboarder 4y ago

It is pop-sci, but to skip past the fluff and get to the meat of it, there are some interesting links to research further in the article, like this one: Towards fungal computer: Abstract We propose that fungi Basidiomycetes can be used as computing devices: information is represented by spikes of electrical activity, a computation is implemented in a mycelium network and an interface is realized via fruit bodies. In a series of scoping experiments, we demonstrate that electrical activity recorded on fruits might act as a reliable indicator of the fungi’s response to thermal and chemical stimulation. A stimulation of a fruit is reflected in changes of electrical activity of other fruits of a cluster, i.e. there is distant information transfer between fungal fruit bodies. In an automaton model of a fungal computer, we show how to implement computation with fungi and demonstrate that a structure of logical functions computed is determined by mycelium geometry. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.2018.0029#d3e581 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsfs.201...