Editorial: Focus on disordered, self-assembled neuromorphic systems

Abstract

This NCE Focus Issue is motivated by the intriguingly neuromorphic properties of many-body systems self-assembled from nanoscale elementary components. The rationale behind this is that biological neural networks, including in particular their nanoscale synapses, are formed by bottom-up self-assembly, rather than top-down design. Self-assembled nanosystems inherit a disordered network structure and the nonlinear interactions between the networked elements can give rise to emergent properties, as espoused by the legendary Nobel laureate Phillip W. Anderson in his famous article “More is Different” (Science 177, 393, 1972).