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Printed Neurons That Speak to the Dead
It’s after midnight in a quiet corner of Northwestern University. The halls are empty. The only light spills from a single lab door left ajar. Inside, Mark Hersam and Vinod Sangwan move like shadows.
They’re not mad scientists in white coats, they’re something quieter, more dangerous. Engineers who decided the silicon brains we’ve built aren’t enough. They wanted something that could talk back to the real thing.
Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research.
Sources
Northwestern University Official News Release (April 2026): https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2026/4/printed-neurons-communicate-with-living-brain-cells
Original Scientific Paper – “Printed MoS₂ memristive nanosheet networks for spiking neurons with multi-order complexity” (Nature Nanotechnology, 2026): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-026-02149-6
(DOI: 10.1038/s41565-026-02149-6)
Neuroscience News Coverage: https://neurosciencenews.com/printed-artificial-neurons-brain-communication-30529/
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/lock-yourself-in
License code: YR3RGQERJQMXRDOZ
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By Lance MartinIt’s after midnight in a quiet corner of Northwestern University. The halls are empty. The only light spills from a single lab door left ajar. Inside, Mark Hersam and Vinod Sangwan move like shadows.
They’re not mad scientists in white coats, they’re something quieter, more dangerous. Engineers who decided the silicon brains we’ve built aren’t enough. They wanted something that could talk back to the real thing.
Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research.
Sources
Northwestern University Official News Release (April 2026): https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2026/4/printed-neurons-communicate-with-living-brain-cells
Original Scientific Paper – “Printed MoS₂ memristive nanosheet networks for spiking neurons with multi-order complexity” (Nature Nanotechnology, 2026): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-026-02149-6
(DOI: 10.1038/s41565-026-02149-6)
Neuroscience News Coverage: https://neurosciencenews.com/printed-artificial-neurons-brain-communication-30529/
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/lock-yourself-in
License code: YR3RGQERJQMXRDOZ