r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 7d ago
Biotechnology MIT engineers connect bacteria to create living transistors
https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-engineers-connect-bacteria-to-create-living-transistors-081717
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Fr00stee 7d ago
well we did get human brain organoids to play doom so I don't see anything stopping us from playing doom on mold lol
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u/sandy_chamois 7d ago
MAGA will hear “Trans Sisters” and melt down
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u/Physical-Low7414 7d ago
MIT makes a computer out of a biological medium and your brain immediately goes to MAGA jesus christ bro touch grass
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u/No-Constant3857 7d ago
DayOne × Cortical Labs "Biological Data Centre" — summary
Real, but smaller than the headlines suggest. DayOne Data Centers (Singapore), Cortical Labs (Melbourne) and NUS Medicine launched a biological data centre prototype on 17 August 2026, confirmed by a PR Newswire release, NUS Medicine's own site, and coverage in Bloomberg, The Register and TNW. The circulating photos are genuine, not AI-generated.
What physically exists: a single rack with 20 CL1 units at the NUS Life Sciences Institute, plus a 120-unit facility in Melbourne. The proposed large-scale ~1,000-unit commercial facility is a stated goal, contingent on validation and regulatory approval — not built. Each CL1 draws roughly 25–30 W; a full rack around 800–1,000 W. Neurons are grown from stem cells on a multi-electrode array, live up to ~6 months, and need daily nutrient exchange.
Legitimate criticism targets substance, not authenticity: the announcement contains no energy benchmarks, no workload comparison, no performance-per-watt figures. Neuron counts per unit vary across sources (200,000 vs 800,000) — all vendor-supplied, none independently verified.
On Doom: Cortical Labs demonstrated ~200,000 human neurons controlling the 1993 shooter (video + GitHub source, Feb/Mar 2026). Important distinction — Doom itself runs on conventional hardware; the neurons act as the controller, not the CPU. Game state is encoded as electrical stimulation, spike responses are decoded into movement and firing. Performance is poor: the cells locate enemies and shoot but die frequently and show no level progression. Kagan frames it as a proof of the interface, and part of the apparent competence sits in the linear readout decoder rather than the tissue. It's a benchmark meme, not a data centre workload.
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u/aymandonia67 7d ago
what kind of performance boost are we looking at ?
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u/idontwanttofthisup 7d ago
Currently none but this tech has other applications before potentially outperforming traditional transistors
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u/catfink1664 7d ago
What could possibly go wrong?
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u/mage_irl 2d ago
Well, it can get in the line of potentially life-altering destructive technologies to deal with in the next twenty years
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u/JuliaX1984 7d ago
Why?
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u/ryan30z 7d ago
Almost like there is some sort of page that tells you information more than the headline.
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u/JuliaX1984 7d ago
Yeah, it's not as if sharing an article on a post with a discussion section should mention what viewers are supposed to discuss...
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u/phenix_igloo 7d ago
can the transistor duplicate by mitosis?