‘Brain-like computing’ possible at molecular level, reveal scientists

A breakthrough discovery at University of Limerick in Ireland has revealed for the first time that unconventional brain-like computing at the tiniest scale of atoms and molecules is possible.

Researchers at University of Limerick’s Bernal Institute worked with an international team of scientists to create a new type of organic material that learns from its past behaviour. The discovery of the ‘dynamic molecular switch’ that emulate synaptic behaviour is revealed in a new study in the international journal Nature Materials. The study was led by Damien Thompson, Professor of Molecular Modelling in UL’s Department of Physics and Director of SSPC, the UL-hosted Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals, together with Christian Nijhuis at the Centre for Molecules and Brain-Inspired Nano Systems in University of Twente and Enrique del Barco from University of Central Florida. Working during lockdowns, the team developed a two-nanometre thick layer of molecules, which is 50,000 times thinner than a strand of hair and remembers its history as electrons pass through it.

Source: ANI