However, with what we do know, can we use that knowledge to create faster and more energy-efficient computers? Scientists at Stanford University think so, and have developed a circuit board called Neurogrid that's stupendously faster and hugely more energy efficient than any standard PC.

Compared to the human brain, computers based on conventional silicon structures are slow and inefficient, needing 40,000 times more energy to run. It’s no surprise, then, that scientists are looking at simulating the brain for computing. The Stanford team created 16 special chips, or neurocores, for Neurogrid.