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Cascading Molecules Drive IBM's Smallest Computer

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-around-here-somewhere dept.

Benoit Fries writes "EE Times reports that IBM researchers have created a simple computation engine that's more than 250,000 times smaller than the most advanced silicon circuitry. Called the world's smallest computer, the system relies on a 'molecular cascade' that pushes a handful of carbon monoxide molecules across a copper surface to perform digital logic functions. 'Even if CMOS density follows Moore's Law for 40 more years, molecular cascades are still going to be smaller,' they said."

12 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Pfft.... by ryanvm · · Score: 5, Funny

    'Even if CMOS density follows Moore's Law for 40 more years, molecular cascades are still going to be smaller'

    Pfft - if I had a nickel for every time I heard that...

    1. Re:Pfft.... by Ezubaric · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Pfft - if I had a nickel for every time I heard that...

      Gordon Moore (of Intel) does ...

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      I am an expert in electricity. My father held the chair of applied electricity at the state prision.
  2. Also just released.... by m.lemur · · Score: 5, Funny

    Counter Strike for mice.

  3. Benchmarks please by bravehamster · · Score: 5, Funny
    This thing is useless to me until I know how FPS's it can get in Q3A. Or at least tell me how many LoC's* it can alphabetize, give me something! Your size comparisons are meaningless to me.


    *LoC == Standard metric unit of information (Library of Congress). Size of unit varies from year to year.

    --
    ---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
    1. Re:Benchmarks please by Alsee · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your size comparisons are meaningless to me.
      *LoC == Standard metric unit of information (Library of Congress). Size of unit varies from year to year.

      Exactly! did you also notice...

      so small that 190 billion could fit atop a standard pencil-top eraser 7mm (about 1/4-inch) in diameter.

      pencil-top eraser?!? What the hell kind of unit is that? Everyone knows that the standard units of area are football fields, US states, and obscure counties! I want to know how many of these things would would fit in one Azerbaijan!

      -

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      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  4. Where are all the servers? by kjd · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nooo!!! You're stepping on them!!!

  5. size ain't everything by sssmashy · · Score: 5, Funny
    The slow operation of the gates -- some required seconds to settle -- underscores the fact that the work was part of a research project. "We have made extraordinarily small, albeit exceedingly slow, logic circuits," Heinrich said.

    250,000 times smaller than the most advanced silicon circuitry. Of course, it's also 250,000,000 times slower. I'm guessing there won't be molecular cascade chips in my PC anytime soon, unless I have a lot of free time...

  6. Re:What? by joto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because it is not radioactive.

  7. In other news... by CySurflex · · Score: 5, Funny

    LOS ANGELES 6:39PM PST - The American Assocation of Midgets issued a press release stating "finally a computer company is aligned with our cause. We, the worlds smallest people have been waiting for decades for the worlds smallest computer."

  8. Oh my God by Graspee_Leemoor · · Score: 5, Funny

    What if we're all part of some gigantic computer and the molecules we put to work computing were already computing something ?

    Is God going to sue us for stealing processing power ?

    graspee

  9. If I had a beowulf cluster of these... by mblase · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it still wouldn't be large enough to connect a network cable.

  10. Re:Think Smarter - new IBM motto by Usquebaugh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes but it would make me feel important. God how I loved room fulls of racks with lights and tapes and switches. I could stroll through my domain and feel like a king.

    Now I have a tiny cube with a PC connected by ethernet to a tiny server no bigger than a chopping cart. AND we still don't get any more done than we did back in the day.