New research shows that we’re one step closer to being able to replicate the human brain outside of the body, which could lead to life-altering research into common conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Project leader and ECS published author Sharath Sriram and his group have successfully engineered an electronic long-term memory cell, which mimics the way the human brain processes information.
“This is the closest we have come to creating a brain-like system with memory that learns and stores analog information and is quick at retrieving this stored information,” Sharath said.
“The human brain is an extremely complex analog computer… its evolution is based on its previous experiences, and up until now this functionality has not been able to be adequately reproduced with digital technology.”
Just like the human brain, the synthetic memory cell can simultaneously process and store multiple strands of information.
This from RMIT University:
While these new devices are able to store much more information than conventional digital memories (which store just 0s and 1s), it is their brain-like ability to remember and retain previous information that is exciting.
Check out Sriram’s past work entitled “Interfacial Resistive Properties of Nickel Silicide Thin Films to Doped Silicon,” published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.
And you can check out this current study in Advanced Functional Materials.
