Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory have taken on an exciting project. In conjunction with the Brookhaven Institute and some university labs including Purdue, they are engineering material that behaves somewhat like the brain. Made from a substance they call "quantum perovskite" it can be manipulated by either adding or subtracting an H+ proton. Initially, when this happens, the material reacts and either expands or contracts. It's almost as if the material breathes. Over time, the lattice adjusts to the manipulation and doesn't respond as actively, suggesting that it can evolve.
This is much like the brain when it learns new information. That information is taken in and stored in the brain, but with so much input coming in on a daily basis, the brain cannot possibly keep expanding to take it all in. Some information has to be forgotten, to make room for more critical knowledge and skills. The brain does this automatically, but to develop machine learning technology and Artificial Intelligence, finding a lab-created material that can act similarly is essential. The scientists at Argonne believe the material they are part of engineering could be just the right answer.
