Imagine a computer memory chip that works more like your brain than like a regular machine. That's what researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have built — a tiny device called SIBM that stores memories using heat instead of traditional electronics.
The device, described in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, is a new type of memory chip called a memristor. Most computers store data by pushing electrons through solid circuits. The SIBM takes a different approach: it uses a liquid filled with charged salt particles, or ions, flowing through teeny tiny pores just nanometers wide. This is actually closer to how your brain sends signals, since your neurons also use ions swimming through liquid to communicate.
Here's the clever part: when electricity flows through the device, it creates heat. That heat warms up the liquid inside the pores, causing dissolved salt to form tiny solid crystals. These crystals clog the pores, slowing down the ion flow and creating a "blocked" state — that's the memory. When the electricity drops, the pores cool down, the crystals dissolve, and the ions can flow freely again. The whole process is reversible, creating an on-off switch that can remember its past states.
The researchers tested how well this system worked. They found the SIBM could reliably switch between states more than 60 times without breaking. After "training" the device, it could respond to signals in just 12 milliseconds — about as fast as you can blink. More impressively, the memory held for up to 1,500 seconds (about 25 minutes) before naturally relaxing away. The team also showed the device could imitate several brain-like behaviors, including learning associations between different signals and even "forgetting" over time.
The study's authors noted something counterintuitive: while engineers usually fight against heat in electronic devices, biology actually embraces it. In living systems, temperature changes help control how neurons fire and communicate. By using heat deliberately, the SIBM mimics these natural processes more closely than previous attempts.
This is still early research — just a single tiny device in a lab. But the team says larger arrays of SIBMs could eventually be built to perform real computing tasks. They also think tuning the size of the pores and the chemistry of the liquid could make the devices more stable and use less energy. Eventually, the technology might help create computers that think more like living brains.
"We've shown a promising new direction for using heat in tiny pores," the researchers wrote. "This could help us build better brain-inspired computing devices."