Scientists want to mimic the human brain. And they’ve made a breakthrough

Oct 4, 2016

Ying Shi works on the 3D modelling of a neuron, in a lab of the Blue Brain Project at the Brain Mind Institute of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Ecublens, near Lausanne May 9, 2011.

The energy efficiency of the human brain is inspiring future generations of computers Image: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Stéphanie Thomson

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From left to right, Abu Sebastian, Evangelos Eleftheriou, Tomas Tuma, Angeliki Pantazi and Manuel Le Gallo co-authored a paper in Nature Nanotechnology titled Stochastic phase-change neurons.

The research team, from left to right: Abu Sebastian, Evangelos Eleftheriou Tomas Tuma, Angeliki Pantazi and Manuel Le Gallo Image: IBM

A chip with large arrays of phase-change devices that store the state of artificial neuronal populations in their atomic configuration. In the photograph, individual devices are accessed by means of an array of probes to allow for precise characterization, modeling and interrogation.

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