Belousov-Zhabotinsky "Chemical Neuron" as a Binary and Fuzzy Logic Processor

We demonstrate experimentally that the well-known oscillatory BelousovZhabotinsky (BZ) reaction can be exploited to process both Boolean and fuzzy logic if the input variables are either the volumes or the phase of addition of pulse-injected solutions of inhibitor (bromide) and activator (silver ion) and the output variable is the oscillation period. Analysis of the relations between the input and the output variables reveals that this oscillating chemical reaction is suitable to process infinite-valued fuzzy logic, and that all fundamental fuzzy logic operators (AND, OR, NOT) can be implemented with it. We discuss the possibility for biological oscillators such as neurons or pacemaker cells to process information using principles of fuzzy logic.