Intel Reveals Neuromorphic Chip Design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor

It has been known for decades that laws of nature imply a fourth fundamental electronic element (besides resistor, capacitor and inductor).

>>> The Memristor is believed to be the missing 4th circuit element. Memristor is basically a charge-dependent resistor. The reason that the memristor is radically different from the other fundamental circuit elements is that, unlike them, it carries a memory of its past. When you turn off the voltage to the circuit, the memristor still remembers how much was applied before and for how long. That's an effect that can't be duplicated by any circuit combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, which is why the memristor qualifies as a fundamental circuit element. Memristors can be combined into devices called crossbar latches, which could replace transistors in future computers, taking up a much smaller area. They can also be fashioned into non-volatile solid-state memory, which would allow data density of about 100GB/1sqcm. This can be implemented for designing circuits with lesser components, lesser expenses and lesser power consumption. Also coupling the crossbar latch with FPGA (Field Processing Gate Array) technology, we can potentially make processors so dynamic that they would never get obsolete. Giving a practical solution to reduce the millions of tonnes of computer waste generated each year...[1]

[1]: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1742116