Memristors or Memory resistors only used to be an idea proposed back in 1971 by a UC Berkeley student named Leon Chua. Decades later, HP Labs presents us with the world's first Memristor--the fourth passive circuit element after resistors, capacitators, and inductors. Memristor, just like its name implies, has the capacity to retain a history of acquired information, almost like the human brain. One of the most apparent applications of this newfound technology is in computing, more particularly its capability to replace the current DRAM technology. Now, this is where the reason why it warrants a post here in GoodCleanTech kicks in.
As you may know, for a computer using DRAM, the history of your activities is erased as soon as the computer loses power. As such, whenever we turn the computer on, it goes through a boot process which retrieves data from a magnetic disk. Boot processes are energy-consuming, not to mention, time-consuming as well. A Memristor, however, will have the capability to retain your activity history even when the computer is switched off. This would mean that the boot process would be shortened, resulting in a more energy-efficient system. Of course, this is just one of the many, many possibilities for the Memristor. Even now, many deem it would change the face of technology altogether.