[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6128\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EGrowing computer chips from slime mould and bacteria\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne organism of interest is the many-headed slime mould, Physarum polycephalum\u003Cem\u003E. \u003C\/em\u003EIn its vegetative state, slime mould is one large cell consisting of a mass of protoplasm, the living material found inside the cell wall. It finds food by sending out a series of protoplasmic tubes that act as a transport network for nutrients.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Conventional computers have served us very well, and are good at doing specific things, but they are actually quite dumb.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Martyn Amos, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe clever thing is that the slime mould is able to map the optimal route between different pieces of food, such as oat flakes, in order to create the most efficient way of transporting nutrients throughout the organism.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is important because, while conventional semiconductor computers are extraordinarily efficient at performing repetitive tasks, problems such as optimisation of transport networks do not readily lend themselves to this kind of processing. Slime mould could therefore provide a solution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Combined with conventional electronic components in a hybrid chip, Physarum networks could radically improve the performance of digital and analogue circuits,\u2019 said Professor Andy Adamatzky, Director of the Unconventional Computing Centre at the University of the West of England in Bristol, UK, who is scientific coordinator of the EU-funded PhyChip project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis remarkable organism has already been used to navigate through mazes, calculate efficient networks, construct logical gates, and even in robot control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInspired by nature, made by nature\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project is working to develop a Physarum chip, which comprises a network of slime mould tubes coated with conductive substances. Inputs could include chemicals, light or electrical signals and the results would be assessed electrically or optically.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn principle, such devices could be hooked up to humans either directly or via interfaces, to become wearable or prosthetic self-growing computing devices that enhance humans\u2019 cognitive abilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Growing protoplasmic tubes of slime mould could be used as the architectural skeleton to build bio-electronic circuits, to provide connections between living tissue and computers, such as brain-machine interfaces,\u2019 Prof. Adamatzky said. \u2018Such interfaces might, for instance, allow an amputee to control a prosthetic limb the same way he would control his real limb \u2013 with just a thought.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis video from the\u0026nbsp;PhyChip consortium shows timelapse of Physarum polycephalum growing towards a food source.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\u0022https:\/\/europa.eu\/webtools\/crs\/iframe\/?oriurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2Fwfbm19dK_aE\u0022 width=\u0022560\u0022 height=\u0022315\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther living organisms whose computing potential scientists are trying to exploit are bacteria. Researchers in the EU-funded PLASWIRES project are using bacteria to try to produce a living computer that runs different genetic programs in parallel.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECurrently, genetic engineers are able to reprogramme bacteria such as E. coli to produce different chemicals and molecules, such as proteins, by introducing new genetic programs into their cells. But E. coli will only tolerate a few added genes or small genetic circuits.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo produce more complex biomolecules for diagnostics, the biologists, physicists and computer scientists in the PLASWIRES project aim to hook up many cells as \u2018processors\u2019 running more complex programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We think we could programme a whole bacterial colony to run in parallel different genetic programs,\u2019 said Dr Alfonso Rodr\u00edguez-Pat\u00f3n, associate professor of computing at the Technical University of Madrid, who is scientific coordinator of PLASWIRES.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat demands control of the communication between cells to get them to work in concert, using small pieces of DNA called plasmids.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This is what we need to program a bacterial internet, or a living parallel computer, where each bacterium is a live processor executing a genetic program and sharing the results with neighbouring bacteria,\u2019 Dr Rodr\u00edguez-Pat\u00f3n said. \u2018In this way, our programmed bacteria colony behaves as a powerful live parallel computer where the plasmids are the wires.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy mastering this process, the system could potentially diagnose pathogens or the plasmids could even be \u2018programmed\u2019 as antibiotics, where they are able to detect virulent bacteria and trigger a response to kill them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBio-hybrid devices\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnconventional computing holds out the prospect of new areas of exploration, partnering the digital world of conventional computing with the analogue systems found in nature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Bio-hybrid devices will be the way forward for feasible, unconventional computing in the short-to-near term,\u2019 said Professor Martyn Amos, scientific coordinator of the EU-funded TRUCE project, which is supporting and mapping out the state of play and future possibilities for unconventional computing, from quantum devices to PhyChip\u2019s slime moulds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis hybrid approach could be along the lines of co-processors, such as the specialised chips in conventional computers that render graphics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We can anticipate maybe in the future having the equivalent in unconventional computing, where you have a slab of slime mould, or a colony of bacteria, or even a quantum chip, which takes over some of the work that can be done better by that device, that communicates with a traditional computer, and they can work in sympathy with one another,\u2019 said Prof. Amos, who is based at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile there is great scope for unconventional computing in the coming decades, it is not intended to replace existing technology in the short term, said Prof. Amos. \u2018The point is to expand the range of possibilities, in the sense that conventional computers have served us very well, and are good at doing specific things, but they are actually quite dumb.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-ry3cezeumhz0-te8z5jvrazfuja-e20iyrgmfw3ghpi\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-rY3CezEUMhz0-tE8z5jVRazfUja_E20IyrGMFW3GHpI\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]