PC motherboards can become quite complicated, and quiet expensive, to design and produced. However, there may be other materials that could be used to cut the cost of PC motherboards. Popular Science is reporting on a computer lab in the UK that is trying to integrate mushrooms into PCs.
The Unconventional Computing Laboratory (UCL) has been working on PC and technology prototypes that use biological or chemical systems. That includes using mushrooms and its fungi in PC motherboards. The article states:
With fungal computers, mycelium—the branching, web-like root structure of the fungus—acts as conductors as well as the electronic components of a computer. (Remember, mushrooms are only the fruiting body of the fungus.) They can receive and send electric signals, as well as retain memory.
The bad news? It's unlikely that your next gaming PC will be using fungi in its motherboard, as they simply won't have the capacity to handle high end computing or run Crysis. However, they could be used for lower end PCs which can use less power. Furthermore, they could be made to self-repair themselves if something happens to damage them and could also be quick to change their configurations. While this research is still far away from a mushroom PC going on sale at Newegg, it's certainly an very interesting option for future motherboards.
Source: Popular Science via ACM
12 Comments - Add comment