BENGALURU: In a small lab experiment inspired by a frog’s behaviour, scientists in Bengaluru may have found a way to make future electronics use far less power.Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have developed a tiny sensor that reacts to humidity in a way that mimics how the brain processes information.
The work, recently published in a scientific journal, points to a new kind of device that can both sense and process information at the same time.
What’s new here?
At present, most electronic systems divide tasks across different components. One part senses changes in the environment, another processes the data, and a third stores it. This constant movement of information between components takes time and consumes energy. The new device attempts to bring all these functions together in a single unit, closer to how living systems operate, where sensing and response happen together.
Why frogs?
The idea came from studying amphibians, particularly cricket frogs, whose activity rises and falls with changes in moisture and light. Drawing from this, the researchers created a material made of extremely fine fibres that respond to humidity in the air. When the surrounding moisture changes, the electrical signal in the device shifts as well.What makes the sensor unusual is that it can briefly “remember” earlier humidity conditions.
In biological systems, this is similar to how the brain adjusts its responses based on recent activity. The device shows comparable behaviour, where its response strengthens or weakens depending on previous signals.
How it works
In laboratory tests, the sensor was placed in a controlled chamber where humidity levels could be adjusted. As these levels changed, the device produced electrical responses that reflected patterns associated with learning and memory.
Light also influenced its behaviour, echoing the way frogs respond to both moisture and daylight.The sensor is built using organic nanofibres placed on a small electrode. These fibres act as both the sensing element and the processing unit, allowing the device to respond directly to environmental changes without relying on separate components. The device was developed by Tejaswini S. Rao and Sukanya Baruah, who grew the nanofibres and tested them in a humidity-controlled chamber.
“This is the first time humidity has been used as the primary stimulus to emulate synaptic behavior in a neuromorphic device,” the researchers noted.
Why it matters
Energy use is becoming a major concern in modern electronics, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence and connected devices. Systems that handle large volumes of data often require significant power, in part because of the need to move data between different components.By reducing this back-and-forth, devices like this could make computing more efficient. The technology is still at an early stage, but the researchers say it could eventually find use in environmental monitoring systems, wearable health devices and low-power computing applications where quick, local processing is needed.For now, it remains a lab demonstration. Even so, it offers a glimpse of a different approach to electronics, one where machines do not just compute, but also adapt in ways that resemble living systems.
