Scientists at Monash University have created a tiny fluid-based chip that behaves like neural pathways of the brain, potentially opening the door to a new generation of computers.

Roughly the size of a coin, the chip was built from a specially designed metal-organic framework (MOF), and channels ions through tiny pathways, mimicking the on/off switching of electronic transistors in computers.

But unlike conventional computer chips, it can also “remember” previous signals, mimicking the plasticity of neurons in the brain.