Fungi. They decimate Dutch elm trees and disfigure toe-nails, blacken bread and rot logs. And that's not all. A group of researchers at MIT and Harvard University have now shown that the same culprits can corrode the protective polymer coatings that package and insulate complex integrated circuits. If this work holds up, it may suggest an explanation for the unexpected failures that sometimes plague electronic systems.

Complex electrical circuits resemble a club sandwich, with chips and wires smothered between insulating layers of polymers called polyimides. The aerospace and electronics industries rely on polyimides because they are strong and lightweight, repel moisture, stand up to high temperatures and flames, and resist ultraviolet rays and other damaging atmospheric radiation.