New Device Leads to “Dendrocentric Learning”

Neuromorphic computing has so far tried to mimic the synapses between neurons in the brain. But a new approach instead aims to act like dendrites, the spindly structures that branch out from the nucleus of a neuron like the roots of a tree. Dendrites receive signals from other neurons via synapses, transmitting them from tip to stem to the nucleus. In computing, “nanodendrites” could function similarly, according to a team of researchers at Stanford University.