Inside the human brain, billions of individual neurons connect to form a vast network capable of rapidly processing information and electrical signals. A team of researchers and engineers at Penn State is taking inspiration from these natural computers to build soft networks of water-based droplets, connected by membranes like those found in the walls of living cells. Their networks lay the foundation for a new kind of soft computer built for wet environments, capable of sensing and processing information with ions much like silicon chips do with electrons, but at far lower energy cost.