Can You Make A Computer Out Of Food?

Could an edible computer be in your future? Researchers are currently working on several of the components you find in them, from batteries to circuit boards to logic gates.
Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him)
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: / scishow
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Adam Brainard, Alex Hackman, Ash, Benjamin Carleski, Bryan Cloer, charles george, Chris Mackey, Chris Peters, Christoph Schwanke, Christopher R Boucher, DrakoEsper, Eric Jensen, Friso, Garrett Galloway, Harrison Mills, J. Copen, Jaap Westera, Jason A Saslow, Jeffrey Mckishen, Jeremy Mattern, Kenny Wilson, Kevin Bealer, Kevin Knupp, Lyndsay Brown, Matt Curls, Michelle Dove, Piya Shedden, Rizwan Kassim, Sam Lutfi
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
SciShow Tangents Podcast: scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/
TikTok: / scishow
Twitter: / scishow
Instagram: / thescishow
Facebook: / scishow
#SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly
----------
Sources:
engineering.mit.edu/engage/as...
www.chop.edu/centers-programs...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
www.eurekalert.org/news-relea...
www.akspublication.com/Paper0...
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
arstechnica.com/science/2023/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...
dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/34...
• Logic Bonbon: Explorin...
Images Sources
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
www.nature.com/articles/s4152...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.researchgate.net/figure/T...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...

[@feynthefallen]

The most mind-boggling thing about this video is how many stock photos relating to people eating electronics you found to put in.

[@xpyr]

I think those may be AI generated actually.

[@iout]

@@xpyr The images exhibit none of the hallmarks of ai generated images and all of the hallmarks of stock photos. Stock photos can just get really weird at times. Not to mention that Hank Green, the channel’s co-founder is against ai images and all of the credits to gettyimages in the description.

[@jagx234]

Absolutely loving the sheer breadth of stock images.

[@abhijitborah]

The internet is a bottom-less pit my friend.

[@Katybug1337]

a few years ago hank made a video for the vlogbrothers channel about some of the weird stock photos he’s come across for scishow, i think he should make another one tbh

[@ArbitraryConstant]

You can clearly make a computer out of food because you can make a human out of food and humans can do math.

[@ragcat3732]

Hi. You are food.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

​@@ragcat3732 Tastes like chicken

[@shanerooney7288]

If you eat brain, you are making food out of a computer.

[@allein1001]

@@gustavgnoettgen actually more like pork, apparently.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

@@allein1001 Pork with a hint of turkey

[@Ramschat]

We already have billions of computers made of food. We call them 'brains'

[@shakeyj4523]

They also ARE food. Amazing!

[@rhedvicus1262]

What I'd say if I were a zombie:

[@RebelRosers]

Hanable the Canable food KZbin

[@EpicMiniMeatwad]

This post was made by the shambling undead gang.

[@shanerooney7288]

Animal brains, I hope.

[@davidj.martin250]

"Consumer Electronics"

[@wordsonplay]

Underappreciated comment 😂

[@chrisjager5370]

The nerve of him to say consumers shouldn't consume consumer electronics.

[@DerangedCoconut808]

i want a raspberry pi running entirely from the ingredients of well...a raspberry pie

[@inanefool8781]

Fun fact, if you can make a "not" gate, then you only need either AND or OR, and you can recreate any logic gate by cleverly stringing those together. You dont need all 3 primary ones, and you dont need any of the secondary ones. Of course, by doung it that way you are vastly inflating the number of gates used in a circuit, but NAND/NOR (that is Not AND/Not OR) are the only gates you strictly need to make any logical arrangement of gates

[@Pedantic2025]

Well, all computers strictly use NAND/NOR since that’s all you can make with CMOS technology

[@xyvazkrown8048]

Yeah, I was playing doom on a potato... no, guys, a literal potato.

[@Noncryptic]

Press x to doubt

[@RogueRaiju]

x

[@shanerooney7288]

Playing Doom on my brain.

[@GreatMossWater]

@@shanerooney7288 Waiting for PlayStation 9 for that to happen.

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

It takes approximately 100 potatoes to output enough current to run Doom on a TI-84 calculator. It can be done. But I'd rather eat the potatoes.

[@faenethlorhalien]

"How many calories are in a laptop"... Man, I have been hungry before, but not THAT hungry.

[@johnbennett1465]

Fun fact I learned in college. It is possible to build logic gates with no moving parts, other than the flowing water. It uses some interesting fluid dynamics to direct the water flow. If you make the pipes out of something edible, presto, edible computer. Practically I don't think anything bigger than an adder has been built this way.

[@shanerooney7288]

I learnt from YT you can make logic gates from dominoes. Just replace the dominoes with -Dominoes Pizza- falling bread.

[@johnbennett1465]

@@shanerooney7288 nice, but the water logic gates can change states multiple times without a reset.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

This has a whole lot of possibilities! From internal medicine to safer toys to the safety of the end product's end of life - even though no mention was made of the latter, it's frankly the most important part, IMO!

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

Yup, all the plastics and heavy metals need to go somewhere. That somewhere is often poorer countries.

[@hathorthecow7146]

Not to mention all the human rights violations and toxicity mining those metals involves

[@coachtaewherbalife8817]

Imagine the shenanigans in court. "Your honor! The defendant is eating his phone!" "Contempt of court for destruction of evidence."

[@FellowHuman137]

I'm a computer made out of food

[@Noncryptic]

I'm a helicopter.

[@FellowHuman137]

@@Noncryptic that's transphobic

[@shanerooney7288]

I'm just here for the likes 🫡

[@DemPilafian]

@@Noncryptic On the Internet, nobody knows you're a helicopter.

[@Noncryptic]

@@DemPilafian They know if I tell them or if they're the NSA. (:

[@grakkal]

Someone heard Weird Al say "What kind of chip you got in there, a Dorito?" and said, "What a GREAT IDEA!"

[@docjoe86]

I can honestly say this is a question that has never even occurred for me to ask.

[@scriptorpaulina]

Hahaha “please, have mercy” “my very blood tells me to kill” *opens a second BG3 window*

[@simoncoweII]

Nothin’ beats unwinding after a hard day by pouring myself a RAM and coke. Or, if you’re feeling creamy, maybe a RAMchata!

[@IsaiahRStudios]

RIP people who use their computers to watch cooking videos and then get hungry 💀💀💀

[@Pedantic2025]

I’m not sure calling the traces in a circuit board “ink” is the most clear description: 1. these traces are normally made out of copper and 2. there actually *is* (non-conductive) ink on a PCB that’s used for labeling

[@heathers.9740]

I don't know what's better, the information in SciShow videos OR the hilarious stock photos used to support the information being presented!

[@capnstewy55]

The charge must flow.

[@raythegardener]

A computer you can byte into.

[@johnnydarling8021]

Weird Future: Playing DOOM on a Jelly Computer.

[@beastamer1990s]

How many bytes in one of those bad bois

[@shadowki5687]

Finally, maybe i can reprogram brccoli to taste like pizza😂

[@Jimera0]

@6:30 funny you should mention that when Baldur's Gate 3 literally killed my last laptop lol. It cried out for mercy, but I had none.

[@cailinanne]

“Someone’s gonna get it to run Doom” 😂

[@fosheimdet]

This is very smart. Very useful if the store is closed and you're hungry.

[@erikarussell1142]

Reid, my man… looking good! Love that shirt!!! And thank you so much for this fun and educational video. You guys power my curiosity.

[@omar53333]

"Imagine being at computers"

[@chazlon5061]

Believe it or not I've thought of this since I was a kid New favorite video, epic!

[@bleedingjeremiah]

How is this not the most popular video ever

[@shanerooney7288]

You can make a circuit board out of *Vegemite* thanks to the high salt content.

[@DanskerneFraDanmark]

Technically yes, but is it worth it? Hell, no.

[@vaszgul736]

Most "CONSUMER" electronics? Hehe

[@user-to2gh7sg3l]

I like this guys "Jeff Spicoli" necklace.

[@canaanval]

There’s been edible batteries for 150 years! Delicious juicy frogs legs!😂

[@Ptaaruonn]

Also oranges, lemons and potatoes

[@jangschoen1019]

Crabattery

[@jeromefitzroy]

You mean galvanisation?

[@ianrbuck]

"How are you holding up? Because _I_ am a _potato_ ."

[@masotras5433]

And I'm eating my computer, crunch crunch crunch Keyboard keys for breakfast, dinner and lunch...

[@kronostitananthem]

If you're into computer science, you instantly knew that the olive oil NOT gate and the jelly AND gate is enough to create any gate at all through gourmet NAND logic.

[@andrew24601]

“How are you doing? Because I’m a potato.”

[@sayandas6929]

So instead of computer chips can we have potato chips?

[@lady_draguliana784]

IDK... sometimes devices cook up a hot pocket/burrito in foil... seems like it'd be pretty tasty to me, if you like spicy stuff! 🤣

[@lady_draguliana784]

@SteveMould has made computers with Water and Marbles, and @thethoughtemporium is working on growing neurons that could play Doom!

[@tophers3756]

Idea either submitted by an 8th grade science class or pitched by a stoned intern.

[@aliengeo]

Technically, neurons form dynamic logic gates (it has been hypothesized), so you could use animal brain cells in an edible, if not vegetarian, computer. But that might not be the most resource efficient, since humans are 2% brain but spend 20% of our energy on brain. Cognition is hungry work, apparently.

[@gaius_enceladus]

"Mmmmmmmmmmm....... hard drive......... crunchy........." ;)

[@fancyflautist]

Oh hey those edible batteries were on Tangents!

[@TheGurumash]

How are both the negative and positive elements "flowing" from the anode to the cathode?

[@nascenticity]

aside from actually eating computers, this seems like it could have some very interesting environmental benefits. discarded electronics cause all kinds of problems that could be mitigated if we could use organic, biodegradable materials; same is probably true for the process of mining the materials that go into them.

[@RebelRosers]

Sounds like your doing a food theory

[@nerdyPanda7288]

What about using fat cells for batteries, and can we not run memory off of amino acids?

[@MegaAstroFan18]

I shouted out "that's a good idea" with edible batteries in kids' toys. That's very true, that's a fantastic idea.

[@aironium]

Time to make spaghetti code from those

[@gso619]

Ah yes, the crab computer again.

[@reginat5749]

This adds new meaning to data degradation

[@Robbnlinzi]

This computer needs a gigabite

[@ruadd4592]

You also need some form of IO and some kind of clock

[@ruadd4592]

And memory or some kind of cache

[@jeromefitzroy]

Charge that moves is called a current

[@precumming]

6:30 ayy, a carry lookahead adder CLA, the actual way that computers add numbers unlike the ripple carry adder RCA which is most often taught. RCA waits for the previous bit to know if there is a carry to then add, while CLA just figures out if there will be a carry without it needing to be calculated by the previous bit (you trade a lot of complexity, it gets crazier for each bit you add, for it being super fast and will take the same amount of time no matter how many bits)

[@Snarethedrummer]

Either I'm having a stroke, or the audio and video are desynced at the start of the video and slowly catch up for maybe the last minute.

[@raykha4560]

The beginning of bio computers

[@existenceisillusion6528]

6:26 is that the dreaded BCD to XS3 converter?

[@ZatchZXman]

If it does math, then yes. It can be a computer

[@paganjoe1]

Was I too stoned to notice or did he not include what the screen would be made of?

[@DivorcedGooseRat]

but can it run crysis?

[@azazellon]

...Don't we have mushroom computers or something?

[@SpaceCuriosity2]

Maybe in future colony on other planets we can do computer directly from food we grew. I did a video about colonize Titan for those interested❤

[@player1_fanatic]

Wouldn't this "computer" just rot before ever being useful?

[@mumtrz]

Why do these stock images exist, like, at all?

[@JoeEmb776]

Soon we'll be running doom on dinner...

[@General12th]

Hi Reid!

[@MrBastoff-cw8qq]

IMAGINE BEING AT COMPUTERS

[@unsalty6696]

It's funny how you mention toddlers putting anything things in their mouths as a joke, where this entire video is dedicated to scientist trying to do the same thing

[@Grymyrk]

I got an edible battery tree in my backyard.

[@jayhaasjes813]

Seen an amateur radio the other day made out of chocolate cake.

[@enzovulkoor]

What about camera and microphones. Like thats the main important thing for this to be used for medical i think?

[@nirui.o]

Battery made of food? You mean oranges and potatoes?

[@janewayofchaos3255]

That's a great concept, just think how much it would decrease the environmental impacts of current technology just from extraction alone!!

[@katinapac-baez5083]

Someone is going to get it to run Doom 😂😂😂

[@insu_na]

meanwhile thought emporium growing brain cells to play doom 👀

[@frankcooke1692]

Wasn't there a guy who at an aeroplane once?

[@francoislacombe9071]

Aren't electric eels already powerful all organic and edible batteries? 🤔

[@4362mont]

A potato battery might really be better tgan those in som devices I've had =P

[@AmaroqStarwind]

Why would I want an edible computer?

[@christopherbrand5360]

I suppose that brains are edible...

[@prapanthebachelorette6803]

In your head 🎶🧟‍♂️

[@scivolanto]

You can't have your computer and eat it...

[@phizicks]

almost everything can power an led, just look at lemons which we've known for decades.

[@DwarfInBlues]

Jelly wafer Doom for the win!

[@grantm902]

But I thought computers were full of chips and wafers

[@jonyeawright]

Chips. Computers contain chips.

[@jibbaspaa]

It will certainly run doom

[@HaHaBIah]

The potato pc is real

[@jonatanromanowski9519]

Go Go Sci Show!

[@NavajoNinja]

We make everything out of oil.

[@DemPilafian]

_"It wasn't exactly gourmet cuisine."_ 3:10 Be careful. Such an insult to the Italian researchers could get you in the crosshairs of an Italian judicial magistrate of the court.

[@CoreDreamStudios]

Now I want to eat my GPU.... hmmmm. Great info either way.

[@matthiasrudigier3336]

Potato batteries : "Am I a joke to you ?"

[@shanerooney7288]

Potato computers: [calculating...]

[@coreyheuman1140]

Assuming all of this works and it undergoes the standard evolution what is a good name for the quantum foodputer?

[@coreyheuman1140]

I would imagine IBM wanting to rebrand or double down

[@nebulosa553]

Deep Blueberry

[@shanerooney7288]

SiliconeSushi (Meaning, _from_ Silicone _to_ Sushi.)

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

This sounds like a video from The Onion.

[@TimmMix]

I am confusion