From Neurons to Noise: Reflecting on Hybrid Brain Models and the Role of EMI

In a thought-provoking article, A Toy Model of a Hybrid Brain, Italian physicist Marcello Colozzo invites us to explore a frontier where neuroscience, electrical engineering, and theoretical physics converge. He presents a conceptual framework for a hybrid neural model—one that bridges organic and inorganic electrical conductivity—and, in doing so, indirectly raises a key challenge we’re working to solve at Slip Signal Technologies: electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Colozzo begins with an important distinction: while artificial neural networks rely on the physical movement of electrons (or holes) through semiconductor materials, biological brains transmit signals via ionic exchanges and electric field propagation, thereby achieving charge transport without requiring matter transport. Think Christmas lights: no single bulb moves, yet the illusion of motion is created. In neurons, wave-like action potentials ripple across axons with astonishing speed, without relocating a single sodium or potassium ion across long distances.

It’s a subtle but critical difference that underscores the elegance and complexity of the human brain.

At Slip Signal Technologies, we’re focused on another invisible phenomenon with very real impacts: EMI. While the brain evolved to work in harmony with bioelectric signals, modern electronics are constantly battling signal degradation from unwanted electromagnetic emissions. As the article points out, nature manages to transmit information cleanly and efficiently within a densely packed, noisy environment. In contrast, our devices require metal shields, filters, and complex circuitry just to maintain clean signals and protect components.

This hybrid model suggests a future where artificial systems mimic, or even integrate with, biological architectures. But if we’re to build such systems, we first need to eliminate interference at the source.

That’s precisely what we’re doing with our patented SEDL technology. Unlike today’s shielding-based solutions, SEDL eliminates EMI directly at the circuit level. This enables a new class of clean-signal electronics, possibly even compatible with hybrid biological systems in the future. And we’re not just imagining the possibilities—we’ve recently been accepted into the Maryland Energy Innovation Accelerator, which supports innovators in climate and semiconductor solutions, addressing foundational problems like this.

The speculative “toy model” is more than a mental exercise—it’s a call to rethink how we model intelligence, how we design electronics, and how we prepare for the next leap in computing. At Slip Signal Technologies, we believe that cleaner signal pathways—whether biological or artificial—are key to unlocking that future.

Let’s build a world where our machines don’t just imitate the brain: they resonate with its logic.