Technologists are constantly trying mimic the human brain. Just take a look at AI algorithms designed to learn like this body does. Thus, it is expected to get robots closer to people. But what if we add to all this technology a material that is also capable of learn like our brain? This may sound like something from the realm of fantasy, but the truth is that one of these materials has already been discovered.
This is about vanadium dioxide (VO2), a compound widely used in electronics because it is able to conduct electricity with little to no heat. So it was already known stuff, but it wasn’t known until recently that it could learn and remember the way the human brain does.
It was accidentally discovered by a doctoral student Mohammad Samizade Nikuwhen he worked at the Electronics and Broadband Research Laboratory (POWERlab) Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, exploring other properties of said material. Their results have just been published in Nature Electronicsin a study in which it is possible that there are other similar materials yet to be discovered.
Material that learns like our brain
When he made the discovery, Nicu was analyzing the phase transitions of this material. it is known that insulating phase during relaxation at room temperature and undergoes transition from insulation to metal at 68°C. In addition, as the study’s lead author explains in a statement, “the material returns to an isolating state immediately after the excitation is removed.”
This scientist wanted to know how long it takes for vanadium dioxide to go from one state to another. This will be the subject of his dissertation. However, while trying to measure it, he discovered something very surprising: he Memory.
He understood after applying electricity that traveled through the material, causing the usual state changes. While everything is normal. A curious thing arose when he applied the second current, in which the changes anticipated what had happened before. According to the researcher, “VO2 seemed “remember” the transition from the first phase and anticipate the next.
This is something that has never been observed in any material. However, it would be very rare if this happened only in this one, so we want to analyze others, of a similar nature, in order to check if the same happens.
It was also seen that this memory was retained for at least 3 hours, although it could have been longer. In fact, the authors of the study believe it could last up to several days. The problem is that do not have the necessary tools to measure it.
This will be the next step. In the meantime, they continue to measure the potential of this material, whose memory resembles that of a human for a very specific reason. And the point is that, according to what they report in their study, switches that anticipate and activate state changes behave the same way they do. neurons. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to compare this material with the human brain. This could be of great use in electronics and, of course, in artificial intelligence. Time after time, until we know it thoroughly, but, of course, this material still has a lot to show us.
Source: Hiper Textual
