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: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:14PM (3 children)
When all that you have to remember is to kowtow to the emperor, or commit hara kiri if you forget to do so, a hydrogel might suffice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:31PM
Tennō Toranpu!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:51PM (1 child)
How come a paper from Hokkaido U has so many Chinamen as authors? I thought they were mortal enemies of the nips?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Kell on Thursday July 30 2020, @05:42AM
Scientists tend to work with whoever shares their passion for science. Borders mean less when you aren't concerned with the petty disputes of politicians and are more interested with the puzzles of technology and physics. I've been blessed to write papers with authors from half a dozen different countries (US, Canada, New Zealand, UK, France, Italy) and it was an eye-opening experience to find out how different our lives were - different ethnicities, religions, genders, orientations - and yet we shared the same goals. It's hard to be an academic in the modern world, but there are still wonderful moments to be had with the people who love the same stuff you do.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:35PM
Stop! You're both right!
New and Improved Hydrogel!
Kills viruses dead! And it removes those ugly blood stains from the carpet, and that smelly powder residue
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:48PM
much like swiss cheese. Got it.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:59PM (3 children)
A hard drive can remember things and forget (when you delete) them as well.
You can create functions that would choose under what conditions something should be remembered and under what conditions it should be forgotten. IE: firefox may store web history and cache up to a given point but if a website is not accessed for so long it will delete (forget) it.
So what are the advantages of this to a hard drive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @12:02AM (1 child)
It's soft and wet. So if you use it to store porn the advantages are self-evident.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @12:05AM
You've not seen OP's hard drive!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @02:24PM
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday July 30 2020, @12:02AM
Researcher: Right! It turns out hydrogel really does resembles a human brain. Now let's see if Jello can mimick a human liver, because it's sort of firm and jiggly and full of sugar like a human liver.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Opportunist on Thursday July 30 2020, @12:02AM (1 child)
I mean, it can store, retrieve and forget information. Can't process it, but then again, storing, retrieving and forgetting information is all our school system asks of you, that stuff should at the very least be good enough to get a high school diploma.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @01:30AM
It's already smarter than democrats, sjw, and blm.
(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.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 30 2020, @01:07AM
A bowl of Jell-O can remember better than some people I've met.