An interdisciplinary team of researchers put a culture of the edible mushroom species Pleurotus eryngii (also known as the king oyster mushroom) in control of a pair of vehicles, which can twitch and roll across a flat surface.

By applying algorithms based on the extracellular electrophysiology of P. eryngii mycelia and feeding the output into a microcontroller unit, the researchers used spikes of activity triggered by a stimulus – in this case, UV light – to toggle mechanical responses in two different kinds of mobile device.

https://youtu.be/5ZkkaM54RH8

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adk8019

  • Kuori [she/her]
    ·
    2 months ago

    my rule not to eat anything smarter than i am is steering me worryingly close to mushroomless waters

    • rayne [she/her]
      ·
      2 months ago

      They're fruits. If you're not eating the colony itself, I think it's okay.

      • Kuori [she/her]
        ·
        2 months ago

        They're fruits

        oh god it's cannibalism then; sin compounded upon sin

    • mathemachristian [he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      Sunflowers move towards the sun on their own, this isn't much different from that.