http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2008/apr-jun/memristor.html

Researchers at HP Labs have solved a decades-old mystery by proving the 
existence of a fourth basic element in integrated circuits that could make 
it possible to develop computers that turn on and off like an electric 
light.

The memristor - short for memory resistor - could make it possible to 
develop far more energy-efficient computing systems with memories that 
retain information even after the power is off, so there's no wait for the 
system to boot up after turning the computer on. It may even be possible to 
create systems with some of the pattern-matching abilities of the human 
brain.

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