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The technology is said to consume far less energy than traditional computers, and a Swiss company has made them accessible to researchers worldwide.
With energy consumption being a prime driver of climate talks, the constant advancements in computers pose a significant issue to the environment.
Modern silicon chips that are found in computers consume so much energy to the point that vast cooling systems are needed to manage the heat. In this process, not only is energy wasted, but also vast volumes of water.
In any case, it’s difficult to associate computers with organic components, unless you’re thinking about Terminator. And why would you? Silicon has long been the foundation of a computer’s functionality. However, with the emergence of ‘wetware’, another revolution awaits our future.
When it comes to computing, wetware may sound like a stretch, far from the usual hardware and software. Yet, this new term holds the interest of many scientists because it encompasses the possibility of living neurons and brain organoids being used to power future computers.
What is wetware?
At its conception, many started to notice that big artificial neural networks needed a lot of energy to run. Yet, our brains, which do the same organically, seem to be able to compute tons of complex information but with much less energy.
Curious, experts in the field wondered if brain cells, instead of conventional silicon chips, could make computers smarter and energy friendly. This is where wetware comes in.
Silicon chips operate on strict binary states, limiting their adaptability in hardware. These mini brain organoids, on the other hand, can exist in multiple states and are more capable of learning and adapting due to synaptic plasticity, which is the brain’s ability to strengthen connections.
‘How do they even create these mini brains in the first place,’ you might ask.
Thanks to decades of stem cell research, such a feat is possible. Scientists start by obtaining skin cells, which are then converted into stem cells. Later, they are cultured to clump and form neurons, where they become organoids.
After months of development, these mini brains are attached to an electrode for research purposes. Due to the lack of blood supply, they can only rely on nutrients and oxygen diffusing through their surface.
For now, most of these lab-grown mini brains last anywhere between a few months to years. However, such a lifespan is significantly shorter than that of a traditional computer. Hence, researchers are actively working to overcome these limitations by improving the conditions of cultures and engineering better support systems for these organoids.
