We’re one step closer to replicating the human brain

Scientists from the Netherlands and South Korea have just created a device called an “iontronic memristor (memory resistor),” or in other words, an artificial synapse. Slightly wider than a human hair, this device imitates a part of the body. brain it helps us think and learn. This is not the first time that scientists have tried to create a device that can resemble the thinking of the human brain, but this device is special because it is not built like others, it is built like our brain.

So what is this brain-like device and why is it so special? Be prepared for scientific talk. An iontronic memristor has a conical microfluidic channel with a conical shape, inside which there is a solution of salt (potassium chloride) dissolved in water. Yes, it’s literally just salt and water.

When the device receives an electrical signal, ions in the aqueous solution move through the channel and change position, and this movement affects the density and conductivity of the ions. This basically changes the way the memristor can conduct electricity, which is similar to how our brain cells become stronger or weaker depending on our experiences.

This may be the closest we can get to how our brains work in an artificial environment, and it differs from previous attempts to create a framework because it is made entirely of water and salt rather than silicon and metals.

Although memristors have been used in several traditional platforms, they are different from the human brain because they depend on a single source of information (such as electrons or holes) and respond only to electrical signals. This is different from the way synapses in our brains work, as they can rely on electrical and chemical signals to do their job.

Modern artificial intelligence applications, even the most advanced ones, do not have the ability to think independently like the human brain. Meanwhile, large language models (LLMs), although they may sound like us, are just a collection of words spoken by other people (and machines). Their ability to create is based on learning from people, not on their own ability to think.

The study, led by doctoral student Tim Kamsma, is a joint result of work conducted by Utrecht University in the Netherlands and Sogang University in South Korea. It is the first of its kind to use liquid ion channels to mimic the complex fluid mechanisms in the brain; However, despite this leap, aqueous neuromorphic devices such as iontronic memristors are still in their infancy, and their use to create neuromorphic computers is still in development.

Although we are still a long way off, creating such devices is a stepping stone to the next era of artificial intelligence, something other scientists have tried to achieve in other ways, such as using honey.