2018/01/06 by Andrew Adamatzky · 1 voice · 13 citations
Engineering · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Slime Mold and Myxomycetes Research #Plant and Biological Electrophysiology Studies #Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1098/rsfs.2018.0029
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.