Scientists have produced a new computer chip that mimics the organisation of the brain, and squeezed in one million computational units called “neurons”.

They describe it as a supercomputer the size of a postage stamp.

Each neuron on the chip connects to 256 others, and together they can pick out the key features in a visual scene in real time, using very little power.

The design is the result of a long-running collaboration, led by IBM, and is published in the journal Science.

“The cumulative total is over 200 person-years of work,” said Dr Dharmendra Modha, the publication’s senior author.

He told BBC News the processor was “a new machine for a new era”. But it will take some time for the chip, dubbed TrueNorth, to be commercially useful.