MIT Scientists Design Artificial Synapse to Power Brain-Like Computer Chips

A new era of computing just got closer, as researchers have created the design and run the first ever practical test for an artificial synapse that could let computers replicate some of the brain's most powerful and intricate functions. While computers might seem more powerful than our brains, we can actually deal with a much wider range of possible signals than the "on" and "off" of binary, thanks to the synapses that handle the connections between neurons. Replicating that capability in a computer requires artificial synapses that can reliably send all those subtly different signals. As they describe in Monday's issue of the journal Nature Materials, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have performed what they call the first ever practical test of such an artificial synapse, unleashing what's known as neuromorphic computing. While the tests only happened in computer simulations, the tests were promising.