Until now, simulating the brain had to be done on traditional, serial computers. Now there is a microchip that simulates neurons down to the level of protein pores and ion channels. 200,000 neurons with 50 million synapses fit on one chip. And here's the crazy part: They're 100,000 times faster than the neurons in your brain. This means a massively parallel architecture, like what is going on in your brain, but with the speed of a computer (actual neurons are much slower than the information flow inside your desktop PC).
We're getting close, folks. With this technology, we should see leaps in artificial intelligence.
robots.net - New Neural Hardware from the FACETS Project