Hydrogel mimics human brain with memorizing and forgetting ability:
Hokkaido University researchers have found a soft and wet material that can memorize, retrieve, and forget information, much like the human brain. They report their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The human brain learns things, but tends to forget them when the information is no longer important. Recreating this dynamic memory process in manmade materials has been a challenge. Hokkaido University researchers now report a hydrogel that mimics the dynamic memory function of the brain: encoding information that fades with time depending on the memory intensity.
Hydrogels are flexible materials composed of a large percentage of water—in this case about 45%—along with other chemicals that provide a scaffold-like structure to contain the water. Professor Jian Ping Gong, Assistant Professor Kunpeng Cui and their students and colleagues in Hokkaido University's Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (WPI-ICReDD) are seeking to develop hydrogels that can serve biological functions.
"Hydrogels are excellent candidates to mimic biological functions because they are soft and wet like human tissues," says Gong. "We are excited to demonstrate how hydrogels can mimic some of the memory functions of brain tissue."
Journal Reference:
Chengtao Yu, Honglei Guo, Kunpeng Cui, et al. Hydrogels as dynamic memory with forgetting ability [$], Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006842117)
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Thursday July 30 2020, @12:04AM (1 child)
But if they're underpaid academics, and they publish it on a site with ads, perhaps they'll make more money from the clicks they've baited than they would from their grants?
Ahhhh, academia...
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Kell on Thursday July 30 2020, @05:48AM
That's great, except that their analogy isn't really wrong? Memories are formed by reinforcing electrochemical cross-links in the brain. Here configurations are stored through reinforcing electrochemical cross-links in the substrate. (Full disclosure: I am an academic and I read tfa)
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.