Brain-like functions emerging in a metallic nanowire network

Nanowerk  December 27, 2019 An international team of researchers (Japan, Australia, USA – UCLA) built a complex brain-like network by integrating numerous silver nanowires coated with a polymer (PVP) insulating layer. A junction between two nanowires forms a synaptic element that behaves like a neuronal synapse forming an intricately interacting “neuromorphic network” when a voltage was applied to it. The research team measured the processes of current pathway formation, retention and deactivation while electric current was flowing through the network and found that these processes always fluctuate as they progress, similar to the human brain’s memorization, learning, and forgetting processes. […]