Stanford team builds artificial synapse / Gruppo di Stanford costruisce sinapsi artificiale. Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa / Reported by Dr. Joseph Cotellessa (Credit: Manel Torralba via flickr) Researchers from Stanford University have created an artificial synapse made from organic materials, a development with potential for advanced computing and brain-machine technologies. When we learn, electric signals are sent around the brain via synapses, creating neural pathways. Less energy is required each time a path is travelled, as the route becomes more defined. This essentially makes learning and memory part of the same process. Reported in the journal Nature Materials , the Stanford device attempts to mimic this behaviour, co-locating processing and memory, and using much less energy than traditional computing while doing so. The artificial synapse consists of two thin, flexible films with three terminals, connected by a salt-water electrolyte. T