Paco
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 12940
Location: Jacksonville, FL
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 Posted: 05/28/03 - 12:06 Post subject: uber geek info: interesting read
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Logical progression
Techies the world over have awaited the arrival of optical computing, which
uses light to conduct the progressive logical switching at the heart of
computer processing. Theoretically, these computers could be smaller,
faster, and far more powerful than anything possible through conventional
electronics. That said, in the near future, another technology might rival
optical computing for technological supremacy: molecular computing.
Molecular computing uses chemical reactions to conduct microprocessor
switching at a molecular level. In some cases, the "processors" only
measure a few atoms wide.
In October 2002, IBM made headlines when it developed an almost
inconceivably small molecular computation device using individual carbon
monoxide molecules arranged on a crystalline copper sheet measuring a mere
12 by 17 nanometers. The carbon monoxide molecules are naturally attracted
to the copper sheet and can be set in domino-like patterns to execute
"molecular cascade" reactions, which can be arranged to perform logic
functions.
Of course, you need an ultra-high-vacuum, low-temperature scanning
tunneling microscope to nudge individual molecules into precise circuit
patterns, which is what IBM used to construct and operate its three-input
logic sorter. The computation device is so small that, according to Big
Blue's own Web site for the project, nearly 200 billion of them could fit
atop a pencil eraser.
Still, as impressive as IBM's molecular microprocessor may be, a recent
achievement in biochemistry might rival the carbon monoxide circuit as the
smallest computing device ever designed.
WHAT BIOLOGICAL MECHANISM MAY BE THE SMALLEST COMPUTING DEVICE EVER
DEVELOPED?
We asked what biological mechanism could rival IBM's quarter-nanometer molecular circuit
for the distinction of being the smallest computing device ever developed.
Ehud Shapiro and his team of scientists at Israel's Weizmann Institute have developed the
world's first programmable, self-contained, self-powered DNA microprocessor, which doesn't
require a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to start its calculations?thereby qualifying
it as perhaps the smallest independent processor ever designed. (For its part, the Guinness
Book of World Records simply calls Shapiro's processor the "smallest biological computing
device.")
In late February 2003, Shapiro and his team of scientists published the results of their
experiments in DNA computing, including this DNA microprocessor. The microprocessor is a
mass-producible DNA sequence that acts like a computer logic chip when it reacts with a
programmed "input" DNA sequence within a special chemical solution. The DNA processor
releases sufficient chemical energy to complete its operation by cleaving the programmed
"input" molecule, which is almost like powering your PC through the energy generated by
typing on the keyboard.
Unlike the IBM sub-nanocircuit, the DNA computers are currently rather limited in their
logic capability, acting only as basic Turing machines capable of answering simple yes or
no questions about binary data strings.
Although current DNA computing technology isn't ready for practical application, future
versions could be used to perform mass calculations necessary to tackle previously
unsolvable fuzzy logic problems. Of course, biological DNA-based computers could have one
major drawback?they might catch a virus from you!
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