New memristor-based system by Chinese scientists boosts AI data sorting efficiency
Researchers say this method could help overcome performance bottlenecks in not just computing but also artificial intelligence (AI), and hardware design, where rapidly organizing and analyzing vast datasets is essential. Beyond AI, potential applications for this technology include smart traffic systems that analyze images in real time and financial services that require quick risk assessments.
To demonstrate the potential of their technology, scientists from Peking University and the Chinese Institute for Brain Research created a hardware sorting prototype based on memristors. The system successfully handled tasks like route finding and neural network inference, delivering faster performance and lower energy consumption compared to traditional sorting methods, the South China Morning Post reported.
Overall, the system achieved a 7.7-fold increase in throughput and improved energy efficiency by more than 160 times compared to conventional sorting methods. It also boosted area efficiency by over 32 times, marking a significant step towards integrating storage and computing for broader, general-purpose applications.
In a paper published in Nature Electronics last month, the team explained that sorting remains a major performance limitation across applications ranging from artificial intelligence and databases to web search and scientific computing.
Traditional computing systems rely on the Von Neumann architecture, which separates data storage and processing functions, typically using a central processing unit (CPU) to handle calculations.
According to the researchers of the latest study, the conventional system has led to the Von Neumann bottleneck, which limits the speed of data transfer between memory and processing units. They explained that while sort-in-memory approaches using memristors could help overcome these limitations, current systems still depend on comparison operations, keeping sorting performance constrained.
Unlike ordinary resistors, which simply reduce the flow of electricity in a circuit, memristors have the unique ability to remember how much electrical charge has passed through them. This memory function allows memristors to adjust their resistance based on previous activity, enabling them to act as both storage and processing components.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuuo4qWhK6I&t=1s
By combining these functions, memristors could eliminate the need to transfer data between separate memory and processing units, potentially leading to faster and more energy-efficient computing systems.
The scientific team aimed to simplify sorting by removing the need for comparison units. Traditional hardware sorting relies on CPUs, GPUs, or specialised chips that compare numbers step by step using sorting algorithms. Instead, the new method uses memristors to perform iterative search-based sorting, finding minimum or maximum values without directly comparing each pair, which in turn saves both time and energy.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Big City Lights Could Be Damaging Your Heart Health
It might be time to invest in some blackout curtains, turn off the TV before bed, and dim those lamps. New research suggests that exposure to light at night could elevate your risk of multiple heart issues. The association makes biological sense. Our bodies use light signals to tell when it's time to sleep, and any disruption to that routine can interfere with our circadian rhythms, which regulate countless internal processes. "Light at night causes circadian disruption, which is a known risk factor for adverse cardiovascular outcomes," writes the international team of scientists in a new study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed or published. "However, it is not well understood whether personal light exposure patterns predict an individual's risk of cardiovascular diseases." Related: To investigate, the researchers analyzed data from 88,905 adults who wore wrist sensors to track light exposure over the course of a week, with follow-up health checks for the next 9.5 years. The volunteers were grouped based on how much light they were exposed to overnight. Compared to the bottom half of the participants, the 10 percent exposed to the most light at night had a significantly higher risk of heart issues, including coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and stroke. The researchers accounted for factors that impact heart health, including smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, sleep duration, physical activity, socioeconomic status, and genetic risk, to try and better isolate the effect of light exposure at night. The data from this type of study doesn't prove direct cause and effect – only that there's a strong association. It's enough to suggest light at night as a risk factor for heart health problems and that minimizing it could be a simple and effective way of reducing risk. "Relationships of night light with risk of heart failure and coronary artery disease were stronger for women, and relationships of night light with risk of heart failure and atrial fibrillation were stronger for younger individuals in this cohort," write the researchers. The researchers point to the many functions of our bodies that rely on regular, well-defined circadian rhythms – everything from blood pressure to glucose tolerance. Disrupting those rhythms, with night shifts for example, can impact our health. One of the mechanisms at play could be hypercoagulability – an increased tendency for blood to clot, which has previously been linked to disruptions in circadian rhythms. However, there are likely to be numerous reasons for these associations. The researchers hope to see future studies collecting nighttime light data over a longer period of time, and with extra information about the sources of light, which should help improve our understanding of this relationship. Most of us will now have at least one glowing screen inside our bedrooms, and this gives us another reason to turn those screens off: a survey suggests more than half of the US population actually falls asleep with the TV on. "Avoiding light at night may be a useful strategy for reducing risks of cardiovascular diseases," write the researchers. The research has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, but a preprint is available on MedRxiv. Ice Bath Trend Raises Health Concerns. Here Are 6 Tips For Staying Safe. Scientists Identify a Trait in Speech That Foreshadows Cognitive Decline Massive 16-Year Study Links Wellbeing to Stronger Memory in Aging
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What will the Earth be like in 500 years?
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@ What will the Earth be like in 500 years? — Lotte, Brookline, Massachusetts Scientists can make some pretty accurate forecasts about the future. But predicting what the Earth will be like 500 years from now is a difficult task because there are many factors at play. Imagine Christopher Columbus in 1492 trying to predict the Americas of today! We do know that two main types of processes change our planet: One involves natural cycles, like the way the planet rotates and moves around the Sun, and the other is caused by life forms, especially humans. The Earth is constantly changing. It wobbles, the angle of its tilt changes and even its orbit changes to bring the Earth closer to or farther from the Sun. These changes happen over tens of thousands of years, and they have been responsible for ice ages. Five hundred years isn't very long in terms of geology. The second big influence on the planet is living things. The effects of life on the planet are harder to predict. Disrupting one part of an ecosystem can knock a lot of other things off kilter. Humans in particular are changing the Earth in many ways. They cut down forests and break up important wildlife habitats to build cities and grow crops. They move invasive species around the planet, disrupting ecosystems. They also contribute to global warming. People are causing the climate to change, mostly by burning fossil fuels that release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the planet and atmosphere can handle. Normally, greenhouse gases trap heat from the Sun the way the glass of a greenhouse does, keeping Earth warmer than it would be otherwise. That can be useful – until we get too much. The result of too much carbon dioxide is that temperatures rise, and that can lead to dangerously hot summer days and melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica. Melting ice sheets raise the oceans, causing coastal areas to flood. That's what Earth is facing right now. These changes could lead to a very different planet in 500 years, depending in large part on how willing humans are to change their ways. A warming planet can also contribute to extreme weather like heat waves, storms and droughts that can change the land. All of Earth's living forms are at risk. Looking back at the past 500 years, the living part of the Earth, called the biosphere, has changed dramatically. The number of humans has increased from around 500 million people to over 7.5 billion today. More than 800 plant and animal species have become extinct because of human activities over that period. As the human population grows, other species have less space to roam. Sea level rise means even less land, and rising temperatures will send many species migrating to better climates. Not all of Earth's changes are caused by humans, but humans have worsened some of them. A major challenge today is getting people to stop doing things that create problems, like burning fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. This is one global problem that requires countries worldwide and the people within them to work toward the same goal. Getting back to Christopher Columbus, he probably couldn't have imagined a highway full of cars or a mobile phone. Technology will no doubt improve over the next 500 years, too. But so far, tech solutions haven't scaled up fast enough to solve climate change. To keep doing the same things and expect someone else to fix the mess later would be a risky, expensive gamble. So, the Earth in 500 years may be unrecognizable. Or, if humans are willing to change their behaviors, it may persist with its vibrant forests, oceans, fields and cities for many more centuries, along with its most successful residents, humankind. Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you'd like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@ Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you're wondering, too. We won't be able to answer every question, but we will do our best. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Michael A. Little, Binghamton University, State University of New York and William D. MacDonald, Binghamton University, State University of New York Read more: Scientists understood physics of climate change in the 1800s – thanks to a woman named Eunice Foote Extreme heat waves in a warming world don't just break records – they shatter them Coral reefs are dying as climate change decimates ocean ecosystems vital to fish and humans The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's xAI apologizes for Grok chatbot's antisemitic responses
Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot feature issued an apology after it made several antisemitic posts on the social media site X this week. In a statement posted to X on July 12, xAI, the artificial intelligence company that makes the chatbot program, apologized for "horrific behavior" on the platform. Users reported receiving responses that praised Adolf Hitler, used antisemitic phrases and attacked users with traditionally Jewish surnames. More: Grok coming to Tesla vehicles 'next week at the latest,' Musk says "We deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced," the company's statement said. "Our intent for @grok is to provide helpful and truthful responses to users. After careful investigation, we discovered the root cause was an update to a code path upstream of the @grok bot." The company, founded by Musk in 2023 as a challenger to Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet's Google, said the update to the program resulted in a deviation in the AI chatbot's behavior. It was operational for 16 hours before it was removed as a result of the reported extremist language. Users on X shared multiple posts July 8 in which Grok repeated antisemitic stereotypes about Jewish people, among various other antisemitic comments. It's not the first time xAI's chatbot has raised alarm for its language. In May, the chatbot mentioned "white genocide" in South Africa in unrelated conversations. At the time, xAI said the incident was the result of an 'unauthorized modification' to its online code. A day after the alarming posts last week, Musk unveiled a new version of the chatbot, Grok 4, on July 9. The Tesla billionaire and former adviser to President Donald Trump said in June he would retrain the AI platform after expressing frustration with the way Grok answered questions. Musk said the tweaks his xAI company had made to Grok made the chatbot too susceptible to being manipulated by users' questions. AI News: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's lawyers fined for AI-generated court filing More: 'MechaHitler': Elon Musk AI firm scrubs chatbot Grok's antisemitic rants 'Grok was too compliant to user prompts,' Musk wrote in a post on X after announcing the new version. 'Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.' Grok 3, which was released in February, is available for free, while the new versions Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy, go for $30 and $300 a month, respectively. Contributing: Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY. Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Musk's xAI apologizes for Grok chatbot's antisemitic responses