<p>I.B.M. scientists said Thursday that they had developed a fluidic electronic system that mimics the circuits in the human brain and potentially offers a new direction for ultra-low-power microelectronics and artificial intelligence.</p><p>A group of researchers at the company's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., reported in the journal Science that they had pioneered a novel mechanism for transforming an insulating material into a metallic conductor by placing it in contact with a charged fluid. In contrast to conventional semiconductors, which use electric currents to switch materials between insulating and conducting states, the new method uses what the researchers describe as "ionic currents" mobile charged atoms rather than electrons as a switching mechanism.</p><p>"I'm particularly excited by our findings," said Stuart Parkin, a physicist and I.B.M. Fellow, "because a lot of how the brain operates is by the flow of ions and ion channels. In some sense what we want to do is mimic those components of the brain."</p><p>While the individual components of the brain work far more slowly than modern microelectronic transistors, the brain's circuits are arranged in three dimensions and operate in parallel. That allows the brain to do complex computing using only a fraction of the energy of today's computers.</p><p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/i-b-m-research-points-to-circuits-that-mimic-the-brains-design/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/ibm-materials-breakthrough-could-lead-to-human-brain-like-chips-7000012866/">IBM materials breakthrough could lead to human brain-like chips</a> (ZDNet)</p><p><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57575567-76/with-a-drop-of-liquid-ibm-develops-a-new-microchip-switch/">With a drop of liquid, IBM develops a new microchip switch</a> (CNET)</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/03/21/ibm-rethinks-the-transistor-to-keep-scaling-compute-power/">IBM rethinks the transistor to keep scaling compute power</a> (GigaOM)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dXRYaS3UrU85hOMyy0KuYrsl5rcYM&ned=us">7 additional articles.</a></p>