The nervous system of humans, like that of all other animals, relies on electrical signals that flow along nerve cells. These electrical impulses travel to and from the brain, allowing us to respond to stimuli of all types, ranging from heat and light to articles in Physics World. Together the human nervous system and brain form what is undoubtedly the most powerful, complex, and least understood, signal-processing network in the universe.
In the September issue of Physics World magazine, Chris Wilkinson and Adam Curtis from the University of Glasgow describe how experiments on networks of living nerve cells grown on silicon surfaces have the potential to reveal how the brain and the central nervous system store and process information.