Nowadays artificial “brains” aren’t something unusual and scientists are working on building them smaller. Now they’ve managed to create a molecular device that’s only two billionths of a meter across and has been tested on eight microscopic machines, controlling them simultaneously, with success.This new device is planned to be used in next generation computer processors and also medicine, like surgeries. Dr. Anirban Bandyopadhyay from the International Center for Young Scientists, Tsukuba, Japan stated that “If you want to remotely operate on a tumour you might want to send some molecular machines there,” but this only will be possible after the artificial “brains” will become more advanced and pass a lot of tests, because we can’t just use them on humans to risk their lives.
Still, this device cannot operate on it’s own and it still needs human control, but Dr. Bandyopadhyay says in the future that would be possible and the artificial “brains” may be able to control nanobots.
Every computer brain is made from 17 molecules of chemical duroquinone, each molecule being called a logic device and resembles a ring with four protruding spokes that can be rotated to represent four different states, independently. At the center of every ring sits a duroquinone molecule and the ring is formed by the others 16, connected by hydrogen bonds. Control molecule’s state from the center is switched using the STM ( scanning tunnelling microscope ).
The researchers managed to change the central molecule’s state and the states of the surrounding 16 molecules simultaneously, allowing four billion different possible combinations. Dr. Bandyopadhyay stated: “We instruct only one molecule and it simultaneously and logically instructs 16 others at a time.”
The machines built using those computer brains will be able to process up to 16 bits of information simultaneously, while CPUs can only process one instruction at a time. Also the researchers said they’ve already managed to built much more faster machines, that are able of up to 1024 simultaneous operations. But unfortunately making a workable computer would be extremely difficult at the moment, according to Professor Andrew Adamatzky of the University of the West England.
Professor Andrew Afamtzky also stated that “as with other implementations of unconventional computers the application is very limited, because they operate using scanning tunnel microscopy. I am sure with time such molecular CPUs can be integrated in molecular robots, so they will simply interact with other molecular parts autonomously.” So this computer brains are working, but there’s a lot of improvement to do until we will be able to use it in medicine or computing.
via BBC
March 26, 2008 at 7:12 pm
nice work, bro
April 5, 2008 at 11:18 pm
thanks much, guy