Computer hardware mimics brain functions

What if computers could learn to reconfigure their circuits when presented with new information?

A multi-institutional team, including the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, has developed a material with which computer chips can be designed to do just that. It does so by mimicking functions in the human brain with so-called ​“neuromorphic” circuits and computer architecture. The team was led by Shriram Ramanathan, a professor at Purdue University.

“Human brains can actually change as a result of learning new things,” said Subramanian Sankaranarayanan, a paper co-author with a joint appointment at Argonne and the University of Illinois Chicago. ​“We have now created a device for machines to reconfigure their circuits in a brain-like way.”

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