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Practical circuits with Physarum Wires

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Abstract

Purpose

Protoplasmic tubes of Physarum polycephalum, also know as Physarum Wires (PW), have been previously suggested as novel bio-electronic components. Until recently, practical examples of electronic circuits using PWs have been limited. These PWs have been shown to be self repairing, offering significant advantage over traditional electronic components. This article documents work performed to produce practical circuits using PWs.

Methods

We have demonstrated through manufacture and testing of hybrid circuits that PWs can be used to produce a variety of practical electronic circuits. A plurality of different applications of PWs have been tested to show the universality of PWs in analogue and digital electronics.

Results

Voltage dividers can be produced using a pair of PWs in series with an output voltage accurate to within 12%. PWs can also transmit analogue and digital data with a frequency of up to 19 kHz, which with the addition of a buffer, can drive high current circuits. We have demonstrated that PWs can last approximately two months, a 4 fold increase on previous literature. Protoplasmic tubes can be modified with the addition of conductive or magnetic nano-particles to provide changes in functionality.

Conclusions

This work has documented novel macro-scale data transmission through biological material; it has advanced the field of bio-electronics by providing a cheap and easy to grow conducting bio-material which may be used in future hybrid electronic technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unconventional Computing Group, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    James G. H. Whiting, Richard Mayne & Andrew Adamatzky

  2. Institute for Biosensing Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Nadine Moody & Ben de Lacy Costello

Authors
  1. James G. H. Whiting
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  2. Richard Mayne
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  3. Nadine Moody
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  4. Ben de Lacy Costello
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  5. Andrew Adamatzky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James G. H. Whiting.

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Whiting, J.G.H., Mayne, R., Moody, N. et al. Practical circuits with Physarum Wires. Biomed. Eng. Lett. 6, 57–65 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-016-0212-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-016-0212-8

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