Story perspectives

Moss Cushions Show Complex Electrical Spikes, Enabling Bio-Hybrid Computing

7/22/2026

Summary

Story summary

Andy Adamatzky reported that Brachythecium rutabulum moss cushions generate complex electrical activity.
He collected cushions in North Somerset and inserted electrodes into the wet substrate.
Recordings showed fast spikes, slower rhythmic fluctuations, very slow depolarization waves, and high-amplitude neuron-like spike trains.
Adamatzky concluded the moss acts as a spatially distributed excitable system that could enable bio-hybrid sensing and unconventional computation, although the study lacked negative-control recordings.

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Story summary

Andy Adamatzky reported that Brachythecium rutabulum moss cushions generate complex electrical activity.
He collected cushions in North Somerset and inserted electrodes into the wet substrate.
Recordings showed fast spikes, slower rhythmic fluctuations, very slow depolarization waves, and high-amplitude neuron-like spike trains.
Adamatzky concluded the moss acts as a spatially distributed excitable system that could enable bio-hybrid sensing and unconventional computation, although the study lacked negative-control recordings.