Nanoscale circuits made of vanadium dioxide can now rewire their own internal connections in real-time using nothing but an electric field.

Modern electronics are limited by the heat they generate when switching states. This new technique uses an ultrafast electron microscope to watch an electric field trigger a phase change that bypasses these thermal limits. The material creates a new map of connectivity that allows it to switch from an insulator to a conductor instantly. This process is deterministic and avoids the messy, slow heat-up associated with current transistors. Computers built with this technology could potentially run much faster while consuming a fraction of the power.