Reservoir Computer Outperforms Digital Computers in Event Prediction.

Researchers have built a proof-of-concept computer that uses running water instead of traditional logical circuitry processors to forecast future events via an approach called "reservoir computing". In benchmark tests, the analog computer did well at remembering input data and forecasting future events, and in some cases, it even outperformed a high-performance digital computer. The researchers plan to miniaturize the computer as a microfluidic processor, which could produce reliable long-term forecasts in areas such as climate change, bushfires, and financial markets, with much lower cost and wider availability than current supercomputers.