Baltic Dry Index. 3657 +51 Brent Crude 69.29
Spot Gold 1789
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 18/08/21 World 209,396,608
Deaths 4,394,983
There is nothing certain but the uncertain.
Old saying.
We open as usual with the stock casinos, busy as usual trying to ignore the real world for the fragile fantasy world of free money forever from the world’s central banksters. Trying to ignore the rising signs of an impending global inflation victory to match the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan.
I suspect that tomorrow will not be like today, which was like yesterday. For the mid-term future, tomorrow looks to very uncertain, made more uncertain by an almost leaderless west.
President Biden already looks to be a lame duck president. That picture of him sitting alone in a large Camp David conference room in front of a giant screen as Afghanistan fell, said everything.
Chancellor Merkel is soon to be replaced. But by whom?
Prime Ministers Johnson and Trudeau aren’t really in the global leadership league. The global laughing league, certainly.
President Macron well if you say so.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen? Who?
Pope Francis?
Asia-Pacific stocks rise; Reserve Bank of New Zealand keeps rates unchanged
SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were higher in Wednesday morning trade. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept interest rates unchanged despite expectations of a hike.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.37% while the Topix index climbed 0.4%. Japan’s government on Tuesday decided to extend the Covid-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas to Sept. 12, local news agency Kyodo News reported.
Mainland Chinese stocks advanced as the Shanghai composite gained 0.34% while the Shenzhen component rose 0.519%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded 0.48% higher.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.32%. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose fractionally.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.09% higher.
RBNZ holds steady on rates
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced Wednesday that it would keep its monetary settings unchanged, leaving the official cash rate at 0.25%. Analysts had expected that New Zealand could be the first advanced economy in Asia-Pacific to raise interest rates in the pandemic era of easy monetary policy.
In a release, the New Zealand central bank said the decision was “made in the context” of the government’s imposition of a nationwide lockdown. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the lockdown on Wednesday following the discovery of a Covid case in Auckland.
---- Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 282.12 points to 35,343.28 while the S&P 500 slipped 0.71% to 4,448.08. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.93% to 14,656.18.
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/asia-markets-reserve-bank-of-new-zealand-covid-currencies-oil.html
Now back to the still unfolding big story, what now after the rout of America in Afghanistan? How willing will American’s be for future military interventions abroad?
How much faith can be placed in today’s 2021 modernised, PR savvy, kindlier, gentler Taliban?
What will China do?
What will a shattered, lonely President Biden do after his ever so early abject failure?
From India to China, the Taliban's return leaves Afghanistan’s neighbors scrambling to adjust
Published Tue, Aug 17 2021 10:21 PM EDT
The Taliban’s swift return to power after two decades has left Afghanistan’s neighbors scrambling to figure out how to adjust to a shifting geopolitical outlook, experts told CNBC.
President Joe Biden in April ordered the Pentagon to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, effectively ending America’s longest war.
As U.S. military presence wound down, the Taliban made rapid battlefield advances despite being outnumbered by the Afghan military. In recent weeks, the group seized major cities and provincial capitals before entering capital Kabul on Sunday and taking control of the presidential palace.
“Much is in geopolitical flux right now, as Afghanistan’s neighbors figure out how to adjust to an emerging Taliban regime,” Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told CNBC.
Political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note last week that neighboring countries are worried about political instability, likely refugee inflows and the prospect of Afghanistan again becoming a haven for terrorist activities.
Pakistan
Pakistan held a significant amount of leverage and influence over the Taliban in the past, according to Eurasia Group analysts. It was one of the few countries that recognized the group as a legitimate government when they were last in power.
Pakistan has also long been accused of covertly aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan — a charge that the country denies.
The analysts said, however, Islamabad’s influence has waned over the years and Pakistan would likely be on guard over potential violence on its borders. Reports said the Taliban’s return in Afghanistan could potentially embolden terror groups in Pakistan, including the Pakistani Taliban, which could affect the country’s security.
“More broadly, Pakistan will see the rise of the Taliban as a major setback for its arch-rival India, and thus a positive outcome,” the Eurasia Group analysts said.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Twitter that the country is working to evacuate diplomats and other personnel from Afghanistan. He also called on the international community to “remain engaged and involved in Afghanistan in a constructive manner.”
India
India has had a stable relationship with the civilian Afghan government over the last two decades, providing the latter with development assistance. The shift in power has left New Delhi in a “tough strategic state,” Wilson Center’s Kugelman explained.
“Not only has the Taliban, traditionally an anti-India group, seized power, but India’s Chinese and Pakistani rivals are now poised to deepen their footprints in Afghanistan,” he said.
---- China
While countries like the U.S., U.K. and India have been rushing to evacuate diplomats and citizens from Afghanistan, China decided to keep its embassy in Kabul open. But, it is advising Chinese citizens to stay indoors.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Beijing expects a smooth transfer of power and called for crime and terrorism to be contained.
Foreign minister Wang Yi met with senior leaders of the Taliban last month.
Kugelman said that China will be in a strong position to seek the Taliban’s cooperation for its two main interests in Afghanistan: a secure environment for Chinese infrastructure projects, and the isolation of Uyghur militants
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/afghanistan-taliban-impact-on-pakistan-india-china-russia-iran.html
Will Taliban takeover of Afghanistan tarnish the U.S. dollar and other assets?
Last Updated: Aug. 16, 2021 at 4:21 p.m. ET First Published: Aug. 16, 2021 at 3:27 p.m. ET
Dollar, Treasurys have gained in importance despite past U.S. setbacks
The sudden collapse of Afghanistan is raising questions about the standing of the U.S. in the eyes of its allies and enemies, while investors and analysts debated what it means for the dollar and other assets over the coming years and decades.
The upshot? Don’t expect any quick answers. For now, it appeared the chaos surrounding the Taliban’s seizure of power after 20 years of U.S. occupation, more than $1 trillion in spending and tens of thousands of lives lost was having no more than a modest impact on global markets.
Turning inward
“You have to be very tentative about making a connection based on dramatic events in a very small economy halfway around the world,” said Christopher Smart, chief global strategist and head of the Barings Investment Institute, in a phone interview.
“But to the extent that the U.S. withdrawal is in line with a country that’s been turning inward in many ways over the last decade, this is one more piece of evidence that the U.S. is less eager to police the world and spread its values of democracy and free markets,” he said.
With China and Russia moving quickly to recognize the new Taliban government, U.S. prestige is taking a hit with a darkening cloud potentially growing over U.S. Treasurys as a safe-haven asset and the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, Smart said.
At the same time, questions about U.S. leadership emerged after past crises, including the fall of Saigon and the aftermath of the Vietnam War, only to see the nation’s assets retain or even grow their primacy in the world financial system, he noted.
Typical shock reaction
Markets, including U.S. assets, were behaving Monday largely as would be expected given a geopolitical shock.
Treasurys and other core government bond markets, which typically serve as havens during periods of uncertainty, caught a bid. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.245% fell to 1.256%, down more than 4 basis points from its level late Friday afternoon. Yields and debt prices move in opposite directions.
The Japanese yen, typically among the most sensitive safe-haven currencies, gained ground versus the dollar USDJPY, 0.04% and other rivals. The dollar DXY, 0.07%, meanwhile, saw haven-related buying of its own, gaining ground against other major rivals outside of the yen.
More
China may align itself with Taliban and try to exploit Afghanistan’s rare earth metals, analyst warns
Published Tue, Aug 17 2021 1:58 AM EDT
Afghanistan is estimated to have trillions of dollars worth of rare earth metals, and countries — such as China — that may be looking to swoop in on the country must follow international terms, one analyst told CNBC.
Shamaila Khan, director of emerging market debt at AllianceBernstein, said the Taliban insurgents have emerged with resources that are a “very dangerous proposition for the world,” with minerals in Afghanistan that “can be exploited.”
Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Islamist militant group over the weekend, as it seized the capital of Kabul as well as the Presidential Palace. After President Joe Biden’s April decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban made stunning battlefield advances — and nearly the whole nation is now under the insurgents’ control.
The international community should put pressure on China, for instance, if it seeks to ally itself with the Taliban, Khan added.
Afghanistan’s rare earth minerals
Rare earth metals in Afghanistan were estimated to be worth between $1 trillion and $3 trillion in 2020, according to a report in news magazine The Diplomat, citing Ahmad Shah Katawazai, a former diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C. A report by American news organization The Hill earlier this year put the value at about $3 trillion.
“It should be an international initiative to make sure that if any country is agreeing to exploit its minerals on behalf of the Taliban, to only do it under strict humanitarian conditions where human rights, and rights for women are preserved in the situation,” Khan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday.
The Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Islam has meant that women’s rights were curtailed, before the U.S. toppled its regime in 2001.
Afghanistan has rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and veins of aluminium, gold, silver, zinc, mercury, and lithium, according to Katawazai. Rare earths are used in everything from electronics to electric vehicles, and satellites and aircraft.
More
A Taliban Leader Emerges: Hunted, Jailed and Now Free
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban who spent most of the past decade under arrest in Pakistan, is now the public face of the movement
Aug. 16, 2021 6:58 pm ET
The new face of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers owes his freedom to the U.S.
In 2001, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, tried to arrange the group’s surrender to the new U.S.-backed Afghan government. It was rejected. He spent most of the past decade under arrest in Pakistan.
He returns to power 20 years later after the U.S. lobbied for his release when the Trump administration launched talks with the Taliban. At the helm of the group’s political office in Doha, its de facto embassy, Mullah Baradar led talks with the U.S. that culminated in a deal to end America’s engagement in the 20-year war.
The world still has little idea who Afghanistan’s new leaders are and how they will rule the country. If the movement has a face, today it is Mullah Baradar. He is the highest-ranking leader of the movement to appear in public since it took back control of Afghanistan.
More
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-taliban-leader-emerges-hunted-jailed-and-now-free-11629154710
Al-Qaeda mocks US withdrawal from Afghanistan, as Taliban continues to advance
· Following the exit of US troops, the Taliban says it will not allow al-Qaeda to operate in the country – but analysts say this is not the case
· The Taliban is changing its public image to improve its legitimacy and is making overtures to China to attract more investment to Afghanistan
Global Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
EU wheat, barley harvest losses add to ‘explosive’ world supply outlook -analyst
Adverse weather in the European Union has sharply reduced prospects for wheat and barley harvests, contributing to a potentially ‘explosive’ global supply outlook for the cereals, analyst firm Strategie Grains said.
In a monthly report, the French firm reduced its forecast for 2021 soft wheat production in the 27-country EU by 1.5 million tonnes to 131.5 million tonnes.
Wet weather in the run-up to harvesting had led to disappointing yields in France and Germany while high temperatures in June had lowered yields in Poland and northern Europe, Strategie Grains said.
The revised EU soft wheat crop forecast would nonetheless be 12.7 million tonnes above Strategie Grains’ estimate of last year’s output.
But the downgrade comes as harvest prospects have also deteriorated in other exporting zones like North America and the Black Sea region.
Strategie Grains reduced its projection of world wheat production, including durum, by 14 million tonnes to 750.3 million tonnes.
Despite high prices and the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant, global wheat demand was expected to expand in 2021/22. This could contribute to the stocks-to-use ratio in major exporting countries falling to its second-lowest level on record after 2012/13, Strategie Grains said.
Forecast EU soft wheat exports in 2021/22 were raised by 1.7 million tonnes from last month to 32.7 million tonnes, despite mixed quality in the EU harvest, the firm said.
The share of livestock feed-grade crop in the soft wheat harvest was expected to be higher than last year, reflecting the impact of heavy rain, it said.
Projected EU barley production was lowered by 2 million tonnes from July to 53.0 million tonnes, contributing to a 7 million tonne cut to Strategie Grains’ forecast of global barley output.
With drought ravaging crops in major exporter Canada, the market was facing “explosive situations for barley and wheat”, putting the onus on maize (corn) to pick up additional demand for livestock feed, it said.
Forecast EU maize production was
raised to 66.3 million tonnes from 65.7 million in July. Rain has boosted crops
in France, Germany and Poland, offsetting reduced prospects in Hungary, Romania
and Bulgaria due to dryness, it said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Susan Fenton)
UK joblessness rate shrinks faster than expected to 4.7 per cent
Tuesday 17 August 2021 7:50 am
The UK joblessness rate shrank faster than expected over the last quarter as employers hired workers rapidly to cope with soaring demand triggered by the lifting of Covid restrictions, according to official figures published today.
Latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows the unemployment rate dipped 0.2 per cent over the last quarter to 4.7 per cent.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the unemployment to hold steady at 4.8 per cent.
Rishi Sunak, chancellor, said: “Today’s figures show that our Plan for Jobs is working – saving people’s jobs and getting people back into work.”
“I know there could still be bumps in the road but the data is promising – there are now more employees on payrolls than at any point since March 2020 and the number of people on furlough is the lowest since the scheme launched.”
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS, said: “The world of work continues to rebound robustly from the effects of the pandemic.
“The number of people on payroll was up again strongly and has now grown over half a million in the past three months, regaining about four-fifths of the fall seen at the start of the pandemic.”
The number of job vacancies in the UK soared to a record high over the last quarter as employers were plagued by severe worker shortages.
More
https://www.cityam.com/uk-joblessness-rate-shrinks-faster-than-expected-to-4-7-per-cent/
Exclusive: Brexit and Covid spark UK workforce rethink as war on talent heats up
Tuesday 17 August 2021 6:30 am
Nearly half of British business leaders fear losing the UK’s best talent abroad following the pandemic and Brexit, according to new research shared with City A.M. this morning.
The complexity of the decisions facing leadership as they define the next era of the workplace is illustrated in the research findings.
Moreover, 29 per cent of respondents at mid- and junior-level said in the survey by MovePlan, a workplace change management provider, and headhunter Hanson Search, that they also feel pessimistic about the UK’s chances to compete for the best talent and attract global businesses post Brexit.
Worries over job security saw 27 per cent of employees saying that they would remain in their current role for as long as possible, while 24 per cent would prioritise working in a large, international firm that can look after them in turbulent times.
At the same time, 27 per cent want to work for a small-medium sized firm where they feel they “are more than just a number”, and one in five want to find a way of becoming their own boss or going freelance.
When asked separately about their experience working from home, two out of three of those surveyed said they questioned whether their current career was right for them at all, and are considering alternative paths.
This polarisation of opinion when it comes to employee motivation highlights that the “one-size approach” does not fit all.
Instead, leaders of all sized companies remain faced with complex decisions as they seek to create a workplace that works for everybody.
---- When asked to rate the most important elements of a job package, a competitive salary and bonus structure have fallen down the list of priorities.
Instead, 45 per cent ranked team, people and culture as most important, followed by flexible working (39 per cent).
More
US declares first-ever water shortage for Lake Mead, its largest reservoir
Issued on: 17/08/2021 - 03:31
U.S. officials for the first time on Monday issued an official water shortage declaration for the massive Western reservoir of Lake Mead, triggering supply cuts to parts of the drought-stricken Southwest.
The shortage will reduce water apportionments to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico for the year beginning in October, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement.
Arizona will lose 18% of its annual apportionment, while Nevada will see cuts of 7%. Apportionments to Mexico, which are required under a 1944 treaty, will be cut by 5%.
While not a surprise, the cuts will mean less water -- and tough allotment decisions -- for farms, cities and tribes in the parched region, which is in its 22nd year of drought.
"We are seeing the effects of climate change," Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for water and science, said during an online press conference. She pointed to the region's lower-than-average snowpack, scorching temperatures and dry soil conditions.
"Unfortunately that trend may continue," Trujillo said.
Lake Mead, formed in the 1930s from the damming of the Colorado River at the Nevada-Arizona border, is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is crucial to the water
supply of 25 million people in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas.
Crippling drought in the U.S. West has brought Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation's second-biggest reservoir, to historic lows. Total water storage in the Colorado River system is at 40% of capacity, down from 49% a year ago, the bureau said.
Water releases in a given year are determined by an annual study anticipating the reservoirs' water levels in winter. In January, Lake Mead is expected to be at 1,065.85 feet (324.9 metres) above sea level, which is 9 feet below the official trigger for a shortage.
The reservoir's elevation is projected to keep falling, the agency said. By July of 2023, it is estimated to be at 1,037.73 feet. Arizona, California and Nevada are mulling actions needed to prevent the reservor from going below 1,020 feet, officials said.
More
Below, why a “green energy” economy may not be possible anyway, and if it is, it won’t be quick and it will be very inflationary, setting off a new long-term commodity Supercycle. Probably the largest seen so far.
The “New Energy Economy”: An Exercise in Magical Thinking
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/R-0319-MM.pdf
Mines, Minerals, and "Green" Energy: A Reality Check
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mines-minerals-and-green-energy-reality-check
"An Environmental Disaster": An EV Battery Metals Crunch Is On The Horizon As The Industry Races To Recycle
by Tyler Durden Monday, Aug 02, 2021 - 08:40 PM
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Are the vaccines starting to fail?
Israel could see 150-250 COVID-19 deaths per week in August - HU
Country hit another fourth-wave peak: 8,646 new cases in a single day
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN AUGUST 17, 2021 15:37
Israel could see between 150 and 250 COVID-19 deaths per week by the end of August, according to predictions made Tuesday by a team of Hebrew University researchers.
The team added that Israel is likely to see another 500 to 1,000 deaths by the end of September.
Since the start of the pandemic, some 6,694 people have died of the virus, including 13 on Monday. Since the beginning of the month, 216 COVID-19 patients have died, compared to 52 in July and eight in June.
The predictions came on a day that Israel marked a six-month record high of daily cases - 8,646 in the last 24 hours, the highest number since February 1, the Health Ministry reported. Some 6.2% of the people who were screened tested positive.
Some 559 were reported in serious condition, up 31 from the day before.
The news comes as more of the country turns from green to orange and red. There are 49 red cities, according to the Health Ministry’s website.
More than 55,000 people are currently sick with coronavirus in Israel. The state will soon reach one million people who have been infected with the virus since the pandemic began in early 2020.
Severe morbidity in the vaccinated population, however, is on the decline, according to the HU report. But it noted that there is a continual rise among the unvaccinated and that the chance of an unvaccinated person over the age of 70 developing serious COVID-19 is seven times higher than for a person who is vaccinated.
With the decline among serious cases, Israel is less likely to reach the feared 2,000 or more serious cases officials were talking about before the third shot campaign was launched. The researchers said more likely Israel will be close to 1,200 serious patients at a time - or even less.
On Monday night, the government decided that students in grades 8-12 who live in “red” cities with high infection rates and where at least 70% of other students in their class are not vaccinated will have to learn online and not in schools.
More
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/government-agrees-outline-for-students-in-grades-8-12-676897
Asia Today: Hong Kong lengthens quarantines for 16 countries
August 17, 2021
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will tighten entry restrictions for travelers arriving from the United States and 15 other countries beginning Friday, extending the quarantine period to 21 days.
Previously, the 15 countries, which also include Malaysia, Thailand, France and the Netherlands, were classified as medium-risk, with travelers able to serve only 7 days of quarantine if they were fully vaccinated and tested positive for antibodies prior to leaving for the city.
A resurgence of coronavirus cases in these countries due to the delta variant led the to be recategorized as high high-risk and stricter measures imposed, as the government sought to “uphold the local barrier against the importation of COVID-19,” it said in a statement.
The changes come after a domestic worker who had returned to Hong Kong from the U.S. earlier this month tested positive for the coronavirus, despite receiving two shots of vaccine and testing positive for antibodies.
Also Friday, the mandatory quarantine period was extended from 7 to 14 days for fully-vaccinated travelers with a positive antibody test arriving from Australia, now categorized as medium-risk. Quarantine requirements for New Zealand, which is the only country considered low-risk, remain at seven days for fully-vaccinated passengers.
Hong Kong’s “zero-Covid” strategy has seen authorities impose strict border restrictions and ban flights from extremely high-risk countries, in the hopes that no local community spread would allow it to re-open borders with mainland China.
The city had nearly two months of no cases within the local community, but its streak was broken earlier this month when a 43-year-old construction worker with no travel history was found to have antibodies in his blood despite not being vaccinated – indicating that he was probably infected some time ago.
More
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-health-business-asia-hong-kong-fb70dfa30c1901c87afe925a05e10b2f
Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford Website. https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.
Graphene assists researchers to develop a prototype for an artificial neuron
A team of researchers from CNRS and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in France developed a prototype of an artificial neuron. Their system uses ions to carry information, and relies on a thin layer of water transporting ions within long graphene incisions.
The human brain manages to consume relatively small amounts of energy, even while performing complex tasks. This high efficiency comes from neurons, which have a membrane with tiny pores called ion channels. These channels can open and close according to the stimuli received from neighboring neurons. The result is an electric current going from neuron to neuron, allowing these cells to communicate with each other.
Artificial intelligence can perform complex tasks just as efficiently as a brain, but it needs incredible amounts of energy. Many researchers are keen to develop electronic systems that can be as energy efficient as brains by using ions – not electrons – to carry the information.
Surprisingly, the field of nanofluidics – the study of how fluids behave in channels less than 100 nanometers wide – seems to be the best option. Using this approach, a team of researchers from the ENS Laboratoire de Physique, based at the CNRS/ENS-PSL/Sorbonne University/University of Paris, has built the first ever artificial neuron. The French team managed to build a prototype with thin graphene incisions containing a single layer of water molecules.
Using this prototype, the researchers showed that, under an electric field, the ions from this water layer assemble into clusters and develop a property called the memristor effect. Incredibly, when the voltage was turned off, these clusters retained some of the information they received previously. In fact, the term memristor comes from a memory resistor or a resistor with a memory effect. “Recent advances in nanofluidics have enabled the confinement of water down to a single molecular layer. Such monolayer electrolytes show promise in achieving bioinspired functionalities through molecular control of ion transport”, the authors wrote in the paper.
In comparison with a human brain, the graphene slits represent the ion channels and ion flows. The team managed to build and assemble these clusters to copy the physical mechanisms that happen in the brain to transmit information between neurons.
The researchers see this as the beginning - their work is set to continue and grow to also include a collaboration with a team from the University of Manchester, UK. The aim is to prove that this system can learn and implement algorithms to serve as the basis for electronic memories in the future.
Source: Science
https://www.graphene-info.com/graphene-assists-researchers-develop-prototype-artificial-neuron
“Nothing in the world causes so much misery as uncertainty.”
Martin Luther.
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