Neuro-memory chip stores rudimentary memories

Pic: Neuron network with electrodes (c) Itay Baruchi & Eshel Ben-Jacob

From TG Daily:

Tel Aviv (Israel) – Two scientists from the Tel-Aviv University have shown that information can be stored in live neurons. The research results provide a new way to help understand how our brain learns and store information, but also indicate that a “cyborg-like integration of living material into memory chips” could become a reality in the foreseeable future.The experiment published on May 16 in Physical Review E, is based on the idea that linking neurons can result in spontaneous, coordinated firing. Itay Baruchi and Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel-Aviv University said that they were able to create additional firings by using a special protocol of local chemical stimulations, which created multiple, rudimentary memories stored in the neuron network.

The abstract is available here.
They found that the memories were successfully stored in their home grown neural network for over 40 hours.

Wow, the birth of wetware.