Research into the way neurons communicate could revolutionise computer technology, the BBC reports, IT outsourcing customers may be interested to know.

A team of experts is working on the development of groundbreaking computers by copying the way neurons are constructed and how they interact.

It is hoped the work could lead to new technologies that improve the visual and audio processing powers of computers.

This could mean that computers of the future are able to see and hear rather than simple rely on sensors.

Although artificial neural networks have been around for over half a century they don’t tend to mimic real neurons very closely, but Dr Thomas Wannekers from the University of Plymouth believes his team’s work could be about to change all that.

“We want to learn from biology to build future computers,” he told the news provider. “The brain is much more complex than the neural networks that have been implemented so far.”

Scientists at Princeton University, US, recently hailed the discovery of a new type of electron as having potentially radical consequences for IT.