13 April 2015

Computers Mimic the Function of the Brain

Researchers are always searching for improved technologies, but the most efficient computer possible already exists. It can learn and adapt without needing to be programmed or updated. It has nearly limitless memory, is difficult to crash, and works at extremely fast speeds. It's not a Mac or a PC; it's the human brain. And scientists around the world want to mimic its abilities. Both academic and industrial laboratories are working to develop computers that operate more like the human brain. Instead of operating like a conventional, digital system, these new devices could potentially function more like a network of neurons.


A team of Northwestern researchers have accomplished a new step forward in electronics that could bring brain-like computing closer to reality. The team's work advances memory resistors, or ‘memristors’, which are resistors in a circuit that remember how much current has flowed through them. They are using single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a thin 2D nanomaterial semiconductor. Much like the way fibers are arranged in wood, atoms are arranged in a certain direction (called grains) within a material. The sheet of MoS2 that they used has a well-defined grain boundary, which is the interface where two different grains come together.

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