Apologies for a typo in our article on memristors in our latest print edition, but it does illustrate the peril of using exotic characters.

The Greek letter Φ (Phi), representing magnetic flux, came up fine in our proofs but we had to use a Symbol font and forgot to tell Acrobat when we sent pdfs to the print shop, with the result that it came up with the wrong letter.

If you have missed all the fuss about memresistance, a newly-established circuit parameter as fundamental as resistance, it's well worth checking out and the article is online now.

In a nutshell: memristors (devices that display memristance) are characterised by the fact that their resistance varies with the charge that has passed through them, and they 'remember' that resistance until they pass current again.

The effect is apparent only at the nanoscale but the possibilities are mind-boggling, even scary. Ultra-fast, ultra-dense memory is one mooted application but they can also be used in analogue mode to mimic the synapses of the brain. Damn machines are going to be smarter than we are before too long.