UCLA nanowire networks compute with billionths-of-a-meter links

Computation is now occurring on a scale previously unimaginable, as researchers at UCLA have built networks where physical connections are measured in billionths of a meter. Fifteen years of research has revealed within these self-organizing nanowire networks, offering a potential alternative to traditional silicon-based computing. This approach merges software and hardware, creating systems where the material itself is the neural network, and could benefit applications like satellites, robots, and distributed sensors needing on-site processing. “Silicon-based electronics have shaped how we think about computing, but they’re not the only way to do it,” says UCLA research scientist Adam Stieg, explaining that…