This could change artificial intelligence

For example, one team of researchers has built a simple reservoir computer out of a bucket of water. They demonstrated that, after stimulating the water with mechanical probes, they could train a camera watching the water's surface to read the distinctive ripple patterns that formed. They then worked out the calculation that linked the probe movements with the ripple pattern, and then used it to perform some simple logical operations. Fundamentally, the water itself was transforming the input from the probes into a useful output –- and that is the great insight.