Mushrooms That Remember: How Shiitake Mycelium Could Power the Future of Sustainable Electronics
When most people think of mushrooms, they picture something you cook, not something you plug in. But a new study published in PLOS ONE (2025) reveals that the humble shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) may hold the key to building greener, smarter electronics — ones that can remember information just like a brain cell does.
Researchers have successfully built memristors — electronic devices that “remember” the amount of current that has passed through them — using mycelium, the rootlike network of the shiitake mushroom. This breakthrough could pave the way for biodegradable and sustainable electronics, reducing the massive environmental footprint of traditional hardware.
What’s a Memristor, Anyway?
A memristor (short for memory resistor) is a special kind of circuit element that changes its electrical resistance based on how much current has passed through it — and “remembers” that resistance even when the power is turned off.
That makes memristors uniquely useful for:
Brain-like computing (neuromorphic circuits)
AI and learning hardware
Low-power memory devices
Until now, most memristors have been made using rare metals and synthetic polymers that are expensive, toxic, and difficult to recycle.
Why Shiitake Mycelium?
The research team behind this study found that shiitake mycelium has natural conductive properties thanks to its network of fibrous hyphae rich in chitin, proteins, and bio-minerals. When treated properly, this organic matrix can conduct and modulate electrical current — the same basic function needed for a memristor.
Even more impressively, the shiitake-based memristors operated reliably at high frequencies, meaning they can handle the kind of fast electrical signals used in modern digital circuits.
And when they finally reach the end of their life cycle? Unlike silicon chips, they can safely decompose, returning harmlessly to the environment.
A Step Toward Green Tech
The implications of this discovery go far beyond novelty. Our world is drowning in electronic waste, with millions of tons of non-biodegradable circuit boards and chips discarded each year. By contrast, fungal materials like shiitake mycelium are:
Renewable: They grow quickly on agricultural waste.
Biodegradable: They leave no toxic residue.
Lightweight and flexible: Perfect for wearable or implantable bioelectronics.
Researchers envision future devices — sensors, environmental monitors, even soft robots — built from fungal-based circuits that can eventually compost themselves when no longer needed.
The Brain-Like Potential of Mycelium
This isn’t the first time scientists have compared mycelium networks to brains. Both systems distribute information through branching, interconnected pathways. Mycelium “learns” by strengthening some connections while weakening others — just like neurons.
The shiitake memristors show similar behavior, adjusting their resistance with use and remembering past signals. That makes them promising components for neuromorphic computing, where circuits mimic the adaptability and learning of the human brain.
What’s Next
The next challenge for researchers is to:
Improve stability and scalability of the mycelium memristors.
Integrate them into larger, functional bioelectronic systems.
Explore other fungal species with unique electrical properties.
As the paper’s authors note, mycelium isn’t just an alternative material — it’s a living architecture that can be grown, shaped, and programmed. That makes it one of the most exciting frontiers in sustainable technology.
The Takeaway
From dinner plate to data storage, fungi continue to surprise us. The same shiitake mushroom that flavors your stir-fry could one day help power the next generation of green electronics — devices that think, adapt, and biodegrade when their job is done.
As this study shows, the future of technology may not be mined — it may be grown.
Reference
Li, X., Wang, J., et al. (2025). Sustainable memristors from shiitake mycelium for high-frequency bioelectronics. PLOS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328965
