  Fabricating powerful neuromorphic chips the size of a thumb requires
miniaturizing their basic units: synapses and neurons. The challenge for
neurons is to scale them down to submicrometer diameters while maintaining the
properties that allow for reliable information processing: high signal to noise
ratio, endurance, stability, reproducibility. In this work, we show that
compact spin-torque nano-oscillators can naturally implement such neurons, and
quantify their ability to realize an actual cognitive task. In particular, we
show that they can naturally implement reservoir computing with high
performance and detail the recipes for this capability.
