Biotransistors

Quite a number of people have written in over the last day or so regarding the article in EE Times about the possibility of integrating bacteria into semiconductors. The hope would be to make biotransistors with "unique capabilites." The idea, itself, isn't a new one however and work has been going on in this area for a while. Like the quantum machine, a lot of the work in this area probably won't see practical fruition for quite some time.

Comments

Re:Who does the work

[softsign]

But still, what's easier: growing a chip or building one?

I don't think there's any difference here, really. You can't just stuff a bunch of bacteria in a semiconducting concoction, go take a coffee break and expect to have a working chip when you get back.

You would still have to go through meticulous design and some sort of silicon fab process (which also involves "growing" crystals and oxides)

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We've been using them for years...

[theta_butterfly]

Why all the controversy about using bacteria? I took my intro bio lab class at MIT last semester, and bacteria were used in the three out of four modules (Genetics, Protein Biochemistry, and Recombinant DNA Techniques) precisely b/c they are model organisms: they grow fast, they respond quickly to specific environmental stimuli, etc. Besides, when you think about it, our bodies have probably been using bacteria to generate enery. Mitochondria are thought to be bacteria that entered our bodies in a symbotic relationship: we give them protection, they provide us with energy. Think about it: mitochondria is the only organelle to have its own DNA (and circular, i might add, just like bacteria), it has a double layered membrane with cristae (the creases on the on the inner membrane), and they use the membrane to generate the ATP (adenosine triphosphate) though cellular respiration that we need to survive. If you've got problems using bacteria in transistors, well, maybe you better take a look at the machinery that runs your body.

Relative size of bacterium vs. viruses

[wadetemp]

This seems great and all, but compared to most things, bacteria are pretty large. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they are smaller than an equivalent transistor. So what is the big deal here? So they act like transistors? So what? For the most part, so do vacuum tubes and light switches.

Now if they figured out a way to do something similar with viruses, this might be interesting. They are many orders of magnitude smaller than a bacterium.

relying on living material

[xodarap]

It seems to me that if you are using bacteria in this manner expecting exact results time after time, you are going to get a big let down eventually. Lets say some other random bacteria gets into the case and attacks the bacteria in your chip. Or the culture fails to replicate the 942'th generation. Or it mutates and suddenly provides 2 free electrons instead of 1. There seems to me to be too many variables in this theoretical hardware to even warrant exploring it.

"Join me or die! Can you do any less?"
--Mr. Sparkle

"I will 0wn j00 with m4h ant1bi0tik skillz!"

[Emerson Willowick]

Now instead of trying to hax0r into someone's computer and trying to 0wn them with 31337 skills, all you'd have to do is sneak into his room and smear Neosporin all over his PC :) Enter the new wave of 31337 hax0rs.

That not a bug it's a feature

[jjr]

Brings a new meaning to that phrase. And I quote "Now we are turning a problem into a feature."

Is this really that useful?

[blacksmith]

I don't see anything particularly new here. The article mentions using photosensitive bacteria to act as "biotransistors", and gets very excited about the fact that when light shines on a photosensitive bacterium, it yields up an electron that could be used to switch a primitive biotransistor. I don't see how this is really any different from a conventional semiconductor.

Also, the article mentions using these bacteria as optical amplifiers - nothing very exciting there either. Optical amplifiers have been around for quite a while now after all, in the form of Erbium Doped Fibre amps.

Re:What do they eat?

[Devil Ducky]

As long as the bacteria are still alive, they would require some sort of substanance. But before any thing if this sort would become truly feasible some sort of atuomatic feeding system would have to be developed. It could be possible that they recieve their food from the air, or from a feeding plate, etc. But I wouldn't want my computer to die just because I have a "black thumb."

Devil Ducky

More dumb processor names

[Duxup]

Now we'll see more stupid processor names like Ebola and the Salmonella III.

So much for eating near my computer.

Biochips in space!

[laborit]

Hey, combine this with the previous article (bacteria can survive in orbit) and we could have computers seeding the cosmos! All those people who wanted to buy Seti@home coprocessors will be lining up to launch their boxes into the void, hoping to bring life to some distant planet...

- Michael Cohn

Viruses

[BrianW]

Will we have to worry about computer viruses?

Bacteria

[ariehk]

This idea sounds all well and good, but we are talking about slavery here!

How can we allow poor, innocent bacteria to work our chips for us? What did they do to deserve it?

Remember, we have a responsibility to lover life forms. Don't buy these chips, they are evil.

On a different note, I wonder whether they are resistent to antibiotics. It would be great to destroy someone's hardware by giving it medicine.