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Making Computer Memory From a Virus

An Ac writes, "By coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco mosaic virus with platinum nanoparticles, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have created a transistor with very fast switching speed. They say it could eventually be used to make memory chips for MP3 players and digital cameras. A device fitted with such a virus-chip would access data much more quickly than one using flash memory."

196 comments

  1. until you catch the virus by Loconut1389 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What if I drop the thing and cut myself on the memory? Will I get songs stuck in my head forever?

    1. Re:until you catch the virus by idkk · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes - and they will be faster than normal!

      --
      Ian D. K. Kelly

      idkk Consultancy Ltd.

      "Quality through Thought"

    2. Re:until you catch the virus by Nocturnal+Deviant · · Score: 5, Funny

      so you mean Metallica will sound like the chipmunks in your head for eternity....oh great "SANATARIUM" screamed by Alvin, Simon, and Theodore......

      --
      -Noc
    3. Re:until you catch the virus by Almost-Retired · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      I doubt that very much. A transistor with 100 microseconds switching speed is at least an order of magnitude slower than the original ck722 transistor from the early 1950's.

      Doesn't anybody ever actually read these links? Oh wait, this is /.

      --
      Cheers, Gene

    4. Re:until you catch the virus by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Not only that, you'll be sued for copyright infringement by the RIAA.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    5. Re:until you catch the virus by tonsofpcs · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes, but it is faster than flash.

      Doesn't anybody ever actually read these links? Oh wait, this is /.

    6. Re:until you catch the virus by stunt_penguin · · Score: 1

      Not if they can't get a screenshot of whatever's on your mind at the time.

      --
      When the posters fear their moderators, there is tyranny; when the moderators fears the posters, there is liberty.
    7. Re:until you catch the virus by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 1

      Aaaaachoo! Hey look at my tissue, 20MB of RAM!

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    8. Re:until you catch the virus by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I just got this image of a tobacco leaf harvester dropping his iPod on the ground. Then all of the sudden its, "Terminator 4: Doom of the Tobacco Industry."

    9. Re:until you catch the virus by idkk · · Score: 1

      Ah! So now we'll be able to do a slow foxtrot to "Bat Out Of Hell" - so soothing.

      --
      Ian D. K. Kelly

      idkk Consultancy Ltd.

      "Quality through Thought"

  2. Let me be the first to say by wannabgeek · · Score: 1

    If you can't beat them, join them!

    --
    I'm much more funny, interesting and insightful than the moderators think
  3. Buzzzzzwords! by tygerstripes · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Tobacco, virus, nanotech... oh my!

    I can't wait to see how quickly this tech is misunderstood by politicians and eco-warriors!

    --
    Meta will eat itself
    1. Re:Buzzzzzwords! by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2, Funny

      Will the NCSA get involved because of the infringement on Mosaic?

      --
      My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
    2. Re:Buzzzzzwords! by dpmapping · · Score: 2, Funny

      Tobacco?
      Good job the internet is made of Pipes!!!
      Now we have something to put in those Pipes...

    3. Re:Buzzzzzwords! by tygerstripes · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but you couldn't fit any tobacco in there - they're all full of internets!

      --
      Meta will eat itself
    4. Re:Buzzzzzwords! by JakartaDean · · Score: 1
      Tobacco? Good job the internet is made of Pipes!!!
      Umm... no... it's made of tubes. Where've you been?
      --
      The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures (Junius)
    5. Re:Buzzzzzwords! by ricree · · Score: 1

      Well, whatever it's made of, it's definitely not something you just dump on. It's not a big truck.

  4. Last time by jlebrech · · Score: 3, Funny

    The last time I had a virus, I ended up with less memory.

  5. Great by arun_s · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you've got any illegal MP3's, your player kills you.
    Judge, jury and executioner all in one!

    --
    I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
    1. Re:Great by nizo · · Score: 1

      It would be interesting to find out we are the equivalent to this process, and some higher lifeform (say, TFSM) is using us to store his music.

  6. Self replicating memory is good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The people assembling devices with this memory should not forget to install a slot to feed the viruses so they can replicate and expand memory as time goes on.

  7. mp3 players don't ned it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Soemthing that typically reads 128kbps doesn't exactly require heaps of bandwidth.

    Why isn't this suitable for general purpose memory, or cache?

    1. Re:mp3 players don't ned it by dk-software-engineer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Soemthing that typically reads 128kbps doesn't exactly require heaps of bandwidth.
      It does when I update it, or just use it for generic data-transfer.

    2. Re:mp3 players don't ned it by mgblst · · Score: 1

      What? Do you mean you don't like updating your ipod at the normal speed of the record? It takes a lot longer to fill that way!

    3. Re:mp3 players don't ned it by Spazntwich · · Score: 1

      You got one of those new mp3 playing fleshlights?

    4. Re:mp3 players don't ned it by absoluteflatness · · Score: 1

      Maybe for this particular application you'll be looking for genetic data transfer.

    5. Re:mp3 players don't ned it by Spazntwich · · Score: 1

      I think today I will begin looking for a pair of glasses. :o

    6. Re:mp3 players don't ned it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but who said that everyone uses 128kbps mp3s? I could see this as a great boon for those using lossless codecs like FLAC, as well as for DVD-Audio quality recordings.

  8. Logical evolution by zeropointburn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    DNA on silicon has already been done. Why not use a virus as scaffolding for memory, while we're at it? Granted, the virus' surface proteins are a functional part of the transistor. Given that we can already attach complex proteins (well, acids such as DNA) to silicon, there shouldn't be much trouble finding a method for similar tricks here. In other words, this is more practiceable than it sounds at first. I do wonder whether the virii or silicon traces are more resistant to heat, vibration, and radiation, though.

    --
    -1 raving lunatic; +6 subGenius... Things even out...
    1. Re:Logical evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Virii is the would-be plural of virius. Virus is a plural word, it has no singular form. Please remember it.

  9. Re:Ethical concerns by jginspace · · Score: 5, Informative

    This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"


    Most would consider a virus to be non-living. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus

  10. Yeah, I think that everyday... by hummassa · · Score: 5, Funny

    as I lunch some tenderloin with bacon and after, when I watch TV on my leather couch while drinking some beer. And cheese. :-)

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  11. Re:Ethical concerns by CosmeticLobotamy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"

    I'd answer, but my mouth is full of animal and vegetable lifeform. It's delicious.

  12. Re:Ethical concerns by RMB2 · · Score: 1

    Won't somebody please think of the virii!!!

    --
    [/sarcasm]
  13. This thread makes Jamie Lee Curtis sad. by Channard · · Score: 1

    I hear she's campaigning not to have have this technology used in any russian research vessels.

  14. Re:Ethical concerns by afa · · Score: 1
    This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"
    Spare it, please! Just have a count of how many lifeforms have been 'subvertted' for our own use. Hints: your daily food is a good point to start with.
  15. Re:Ethical concerns by chowdy · · Score: 0

    Last I heard, the jury was still out on whether a virus was a lifeform or not.

  16. Very fast switching speed???? by Maddog+Batty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    100 microsecond switch speed is very very slow for modern transistors (mentioned in article). What am I missing here? Is there a mistake in the article?

    --
    wot no sig
    1. Re:Very fast switching speed???? by noigmn · · Score: 3, Funny

      But think about how good it will be when they can do these things with higher level lifeforms. For instance if we could use people to switch things and their brains to do complex calculations and somehow network them together using some form of complex communication made up of various sequences of sound...

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      Slashdot is powered by your submission.
    2. Re:Very fast switching speed???? by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 1

      Form the rest of the article (us instead of ms to display and image), that "100 us" switch time is likely to be wrong by at least 6 orders of magnitude (or else the tech is pointless since it couldn't be scalled down in the future).

    3. Re:Very fast switching speed???? by phage434 · · Score: 1

      Apparently they are comparing this transistor speed to the speed of flash memory transistors, which are remarkably slow. I would definitely not get excited about the raw speed of these devices. It is interesting to see discrete biomolecular structures used as an engineering vehicle, and we'll see a lot more of this soon.

    4. Re:Very fast switching speed???? by db32 · · Score: 1

      If the numbers are correct I imagine its just a lack of clarity in the comparison. A bicycle is 'very fast' compared to a skateboard, but not to a car.

      --
      The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
    5. Re:Very fast switching speed???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      May be driver transistors for the pixels on a huge LCD panels would be a better usage for it?

  17. Re:Ethical concerns by Fizzl · · Score: 1

    "Yes"
    Next question?

  18. Ya know what I'm sick of.. by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the "basic research == future product" meme. For fuck sake. I bet if you were to go back the last 5 years and collect up all these articles and do a little survey of whether or not ANY of these bullshit descriptions of future products have come to pass you would find that NONE of them have. Why? Because if you discover something that could be turned into a product, you don't tell the world; you go find a venture capitalist and make the damn product.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by teslar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You obviously have a point, but I think this (and all previous instances you refer to) is just a spin to keep funding bodies and marketing droids happy. Use your research to answer some fundamental philosophical questions on life, the universe and everything or whatever and you'll get a big yawn. Say that you're using nanotech, use the words "faster memory", "ipod" and "could replace flash" in one sentence, basically make dollar signs appear in the marketing droids' eyes, and you get to be in the news everywhere, people notice you and the next grant application should go a lot smoother.

    2. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      I know this. You know this. Everyone on Slashdot knows this. So why do the, *ahem*, "editors" continue to accept stories that propagate this meme?

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    3. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by ppz003 · · Score: 1

      As someone who is working in a reseach group with people who are actually doing this stuff (but not myself)...

      This research is beyond "basic". My own reseach group has developed methods for coating tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) with platinum, palladium, nickle, (a few other metals I can't remember) and also silica with metals on top. These things are 18 nm diameter rods that are 300 or more nm long (natural TMV is 300, modified varients can be up to 500nm or so). I believe it was a group in Florida that was sucessful making tiny oxygen sensors using the method our group developed for coating the things. And right now my classmate is working on aligning them in bulk to make wires.

      This field is very hot and many groups are working on ways of making these things viable for sensors, wires and the like.

      I may not know what technology these TMV will bring us, but they have already brought some things to the table.

    4. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Yeah, basic research, that's what its called. Not trying to talk down your accomplishments or anything, good on ya, but every time anyone reports research they take on a "any time now we're likely to see [random record breaking product] in stores near you!"

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    5. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by eples · · Score: 1

      I agree with that sentiment, it's totally outdated and leftover from the 1950's.
      And why is it always products? "Buy Buy Buy Want Want Want" *sigh*

      --
      I'm a 2000 man.
    6. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by ArwynH · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because lots of slashdot readers like to hear about technology that's being developed? Sure, the predictions are usually marketing speach, but the fact that the tech is being developed isn't.

      Dunno about you, but hearing that someone is trying to coat viruses in silicon to make faster memory gives me a kind of warm, fuzzy feeling deep inside.

    7. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by ppz003 · · Score: 1

      I suppose it's a difference in perspective. To me, basic research means modeling and trying to just get the metals to stick to the virus. That took long time to figure out. Now that it's done, people are starting to implement these things on a small scale. We have individual circuits, sensors, etc. All that's left is finding a way to put a bunch of these things together in the proper order, kinda like going from single transistor to making a circuit board or CPU.

      So in the grand scheme of things, perhaps this is still at the "basic" research stage, but it may not be there for too much longer.... Then again, OLEDs got caught up in that last step as well.

    8. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by bill_kress · · Score: 1

      I remember hearing of 3d printers http://www.zcorp.com/products/printersdetail.asp?I D=1 on slashdot and couldn't imagine seeing a prototype in my lifetime. Now they're available off the shelf, just a few years later.

      An article about hard disks lining up charges vertically instead of horizontally along the track preceded today's ~1tb hard drives.

      I'm sure there are a half-dozen other examples I cant think of.

      Why does dreaming make you so uncomfortable? It's what we do.

    9. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      I remember seeing that stuff too, it wasn't basic research, it was research into production of a product. That's the difference.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    10. Re:Ya know what I'm sick of.. by bill_kress · · Score: 1

      When I saw it, it was basic research--college stuff. Trust me, it happens. If it's good, it gets into a product. Just wait.

  19. Re:Ethical concerns by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Is it really okay to subvert ' lifeforms ' like this?"

    After all, they are trumpeting speed, but won't the legendary instability of the biological world come into view?

    "Ooh, look. My memory mutated. It wasn't intelligently designed."

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  20. who's on first? by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    "you have a virus in memory"

    "i know, my memory is made of viruses"

    "no, i mean, there is a memory resident virus on your computer"

    "no, the memory resides on the viruses"

    "let me rephrase: your memory, made of viruses, has a virus"

    "so you're telling me i have more viruses... so i have more memory? yeah!"

    "no, this is a bad thing, you don't want viruses on your computer"

    "you told me last week i want the most memory i can on my computer, and that's made of viruses"

    "yes... i mean no, i mean..." (smacks forehead)

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:who's on first? by mennucc1 · · Score: 1

      So, when you run the antivirus, does it disassemble the RNA as well?

    2. Re:who's on first? by lisaparratt · · Score: 2, Funny

      Scan complete!

      423,827
      Viruses found!

      A new record!!

    3. Re:who's on first? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2, Funny

      That is not a small number! That is a BIG number!

      Chris Mattern

    4. Re:who's on first? by KillerBob · · Score: 1

      You laugh... but the reason I retired from fixing friends' computers was similar to that.... She called me up complaining that her computer was running a little slow. The result of a virus scan? 4 files on her computer *weren't* infected with something. Over 118,000 infected files, comprising more than 1000 known viruses.

      "You don't play video games, right?"

      "Uh, no. I just want it for Internet, downloading, and chatting."

      "Oookay... Let me introduce you to this thing called Linux."

      --
      If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
    5. Re:who's on first? by indifferent+children · · Score: 3, Funny

      Running Microsoft Anti-Virus: working...working...working...out of memory.

      --
      Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. --Mark Twain
  21. Designer Viruses - extreme weirdness by spineboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't wait until designer prankster viruses come out. Imagine that instead of becoming sick, weird things happened to people. They might really! stink for a day, have their tongue turn numb, develop inappropriate laughter, only want to eat orange colored food, etc.

    Might be kinda of fun - it would be like gold(?) kryptonite, but for people. Gold (I think) kryptonite had weird unpredictable effects of Superman. It might make the world a little more fun. Imagine going to some very stuffy conservative place, and everyone was burping all day long.
    Abuse potential would be rampant though. Someone from here might want to design a strain to make reallllllly hot chicks want to have sex with smelly fat geeks.

    --
    ..........FULL STOP.
    1. Re:Designer Viruses - extreme weirdness by icebrain · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the bio-warfare in Ribofunk (Paul Di Filippo)... the soldiers catch viruses or agents that make them alternately unable to use articles, giggle all day, reduces them to the mental level of two-year-olds, etc.

      --
      The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
    2. Re:Designer Viruses - extreme weirdness by TrekkieGod · · Score: 2, Funny
      it would be like gold(?) kryptonite, but for people. Gold (I think) kryptonite had weird unpredictable effects of Superman.

      That would be red. Gold kryptonite could permanently remove his powers.

      This was just a test to bring us ultra nerds out in the open wasn't it? Damn, alright I confess. I'm not just a trekkie, I'm a comic book guy as well.

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

    3. Re:Designer Viruses - extreme weirdness by mackyrae · · Score: 1

      You sound like the Weasley twins in Harry Potter. Ton Tongue Toffees and all that..

      --
      look! it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....a girl? yes, a girl browsing Slashdot on Linux
  22. what's the use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    will your mp3's start playing a few microseconds faster when you select play? or will we be able to play mp3's in huge bitrates we'll never ever use?

  23. MOD PARENT UP! by MLopat · · Score: 1

    Agreed! Finally, someone else that sees through the bullshit. The science is great, but touting future uses, especially something as specific as an MP3 player, is ridiculous; leave the applications to the engineers.

  24. Re:Ethical concerns by Tim+C · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I hope you don't wear silk, eat meat, wear leather...

  25. Re:Ethical concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't we already "subvert" other lifeforms like cattle for food and horses for riding? Is this really that different?

  26. Re: MOD PARENT UP+TROLL! by arachnoprobe · · Score: 1

    They don't talk about the timescale....

  27. Not suitable for Macs by SanderDJ · · Score: 2, Funny

    Steve (a veganist) won't have any of this. Living creatures serving as memory. Yuk!

    1. Re:Not suitable for Macs by ParanoidJanitor · · Score: 1

      Except for the whole thing about viruses not being considered alive. At least not as of the last time I took a biology course.

    2. Re:Not suitable for Macs by SanderDJ · · Score: 1

      If it grows, it lives. I dare you to prove me wrong.

    3. Re:Not suitable for Macs by Da3vid · · Score: 2, Informative

      I am very sure that there are more than a few examples of things that grow but aren't alive. Though... I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

    4. Re:Not suitable for Macs by Da3vid · · Score: 2, Informative

      I just *knew* someone was going to bring something like this up. Scientifically, it is generally accepted that viruses are not alive. Check it out here. However, some people's intuition tells them that the virus appears to be alive... and so the question is not necessarily whether or not it is alive, but whether we need to redefine our parameters for life to include the virus. Our current definition excludes it.

    5. Re:Not suitable for Macs by KillerBob · · Score: 1

      Crystals grow. And outside of Star Trek, they aren't alive....

      --
      If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
    6. Re:Not suitable for Macs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I won't bother proving you wrong, as other's already showed counterexamples. I can, however, show you as offtopic, or at least missing a key point..

      Viruses don't grow, they replicate. A population of viruses could be seen as growing, as the number of viruses increases, but the individuals do not grow. It COULD be partially argued that in the transcription process the nucleic acid strands and proteins grow in length, however it is not a functional virus until the nucleic acids and proteins are assembled.

    7. Re:Not suitable for Macs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It COULD be partially argued that in the transcription process the nucleic acid strands and proteins grow in length, however it is not a functional virus until the nucleic acids and proteins are assembled.

      LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION!
    8. Re:Not suitable for Macs by nxtr · · Score: 1

      Neither would this Steve.

  28. Lifespan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they're planning to use this to make memory chips, based on a living organism, it stands to reason that such a chip would have a "lifespan" associated with it.

    1. Re:Lifespan by Devil_Hack · · Score: 1

      Well, except viruses can't really die, they don't have a "normal" lifespan. Sure, they can, hmm, well, "get broken", but they don't die like a normal living organism would.

  29. Re:Ethical concerns by sagefire.org · · Score: 1
    So, you don't think of broccoli, lettuce, and tomatoes to be alive?

    Vegetarians subvert the life cycles of plant-based life forms everyday ;)

  30. Reverse-reverse meme? by Unique2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    In the United States of America your computer runs on a virus!

    --
    No trees were harmed in the posting of this message. However, a great number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
  31. Re:Ethical concerns by rizole · · Score: 1

    The filthy swines!

  32. Future trends... by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you've got any illegal MP3's, your player kills you.
    Judge, jury and executioner all in one!


    So what you are hypothesizing is that in a few years we will see a Microsoft Zune or iPods with Sony EbolaFlash® memory chip technology.

    --
    Only to idiots, are orders laws.
    -- Henning von Tresckow
    1. Re:Future trends... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Way to put ideas in their heads!

    2. Re:Future trends... by AviLazar · · Score: 1

      So what you are hypothesizing is that in a few years we will see a Microsoft Zune or iPods with Sony EbolaFlash® memory chip technology.

      I just patented, copyrighted this technology. You will now have to pay me 1,000,000$ each time your post is viewed.

      --

      I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
  33. Dual-purpose memory by StringBlade · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not only does it run faster than conventional memory, it's an anti-smoking chip: if it catches you smoking at the computer it infects your cigar/cigarette with itself

    --
    ...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
  34. virus-based memory ? by l3v1 · · Score: 1

    Now this gives a whole new meaning to biological warfare, chip-targeting bioweapons on the rise.
     

    --
    I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
  35. Re:Ethical concerns by gnool · · Score: 0

    I wasn't saying "this isn't ok", I was *asking* "is this ok?" I wanted to get the critical thought flowing and read some opinions about this. Most people have pointed out that we "subvert" plant and animals all the time, to eat them. I think this is ok, as long as the suffering for the animals involved is kept to a minimum. I also think it's ok to kill bacteria & whatnot that cause human suffering and illness, and within reason to use bacteria for our own purposes (for good, not for evil), etc. My initial question comes from my philosophy about living creatures, which is that everything has a right to live it's own life, free from human exploitation - everything doesn't exist solely for human consumption. Perhaps I'm taking this to an unreasonable extreme applying this to virii, which is why I asked my original question in the first place :-)

  36. In other news ... by JumpingBull · · Score: 1
    What about the children?
    What if it becomes sentient?
    We would have:
    • A Cigarette That Spies!
    • Terrorist Tomato Plots!
    • Substitute Foods Made of Foam Rubber!

    No, wait, that last item already happened....
    --
    This is progress?
  37. Re:Ethical concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I will. My rates are very reasonable. $42/hr USD to think of a virus. Discount rates for multi-viruses or multi-virii. Please contact for more details.

  38. Re:Ethical concerns by famebait · · Score: 4, Funny

    This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"

    Yes, it's a slippery slope. If we allow this, before you know it they will be using higher life forms like plants or even animals to serve human needs.

    --
    sudo ergo sum
  39. Re:Ethical concerns by aitsu · · Score: 1

    Homer: "Mmmm, tobacco mosaic virus with platinum nanoparticles..."

  40. Re:Ethical concerns by Xiph1980 · · Score: 1, Insightful
    I wasn't saying "this isn't ok", I was *asking* "is this ok?" I wanted to get the critical thought flowing and read some opinions about this. Most people have pointed out that we "subvert" plant and animals all the time, to eat them. I think this is ok, as long as the suffering for the animals involved is kept to a minimum. I also think it's ok to kill bacteria & whatnot that cause human suffering and illness, and within reason to use bacteria for our own purposes (for good, not for evil), etc. My initial question comes from my philosophy about living creatures, which is that everything has a right to live it's own life, free from human exploitation - everything doesn't exist solely for human consumption. Perhaps I'm taking this to an unreasonable extreme applying this to virii, which is why I asked my original question in the first place :-)

    Humans are part of the animal kingdom like any other animal is. We need to eat and need to live.
    To do this, certain sacrifices need to be made. If a lion kills for its lunch, he really doesn't think about wether or not the creature aimed for has pain or not. He kills as fast as possible so he can eat as fast as possible, because the hyena's are close to take his food from him.
    In this aspect we are much more gentile towards the animals we use for food. We already do much to lower the "terror aspect" that cattle has to endure at the end of their life. No matter though how much we try, there always will be that pain and suffering.

    I guess what I'm trying to say is that your philosophy about life, or as you say it: "everything has a right to live it's own life, free from human exploitation" might be stained about that you apparently think that we are much different from other animals. We are not. We love as other animals. We fight as other animals, and we wage war as other animals. We cheat, bribe, and make sacrifices, just as (m)any other animal.
    --
    Manuals are your last resort only
  41. The first? by gmby · · Score: 3, Funny

    So is this the first analog computer virus?

    Your search - "analog computer virus" - did not match any documents.

    Looks like google agrees.

    --
    I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
    1. Re:The first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For those of you that were suckered into trying, analog computer virus comes up with ~3.4M hits...DOH!

    2. Re:The first? by absoluteflatness · · Score: 1

      For those of you who don't seem to know, Google searches without quotation marks tend to produce more results.

  42. All this 'biocomputing'... by Wizard052 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...reminds me of an article I read a while ago of some researchers somewhere who had been able to connect a small chip to a cockroach! They were even able to manipulate the cockroach to an extent- move it's legs..etc passing some commands to the chip-effectively rendering the cockroach to become a robot...that was just amazing. Does anyone know of this? I'd love to know more details on this and how it turned out eventually... ..anyone with links to this?

    1. Re:All this 'biocomputing'... by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 1

      I couldn't find anything on a robot controlling a cockroach, but...

      In Soviet Union, cockroach controls robot!

      --
      Demented But Determined.
    2. Re:All this 'biocomputing'... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Luc Besson created a video of this cockroach spy technology in action. Check it out here . . .

      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/

    3. Re:All this 'biocomputing'... by dsvick · · Score: 1

      "I'd love to know more details on this and how it turned out eventually..." Probably not very well for the cockroach.

    4. Re:All this 'biocomputing'... by Lurker2288 · · Score: 1

      This is the only reference to it I could find in a quick Google search that didn't refer to government mind control chips or biblibcal prophecies about the mark of the beast. If you're interested, you could probably pull a list of the investigator's publications and see what he's done since then: http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/011097/tech_r oboroach.html

    5. Re:All this 'biocomputing'... by ekgringo · · Score: 0

      I think you're confusing life with The Fifth Element.

  43. Re:Ethical concerns by somersault · · Score: 1

    So you think everything has a right to live its own life, yet you also think it's okay to eat them?

    How is it okay to kill and eat the animals, but not okay to have them suffer beforehand? I don't like being cruel, but it's really stupid saying that it's okay to kill something, but not okay to torture it. I think I'd prefer to experience pain for a little while (as long as there was no serious physical damage) than be killed..

    And yes, it's really dumb to try to consider the emotional and social problems that a virus will experience when you take advantage of it.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  44. as run through the academic BS generator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's like that physics article on quantum teleportation. maybe a few hundred people on the planet know anything about it to make heads nor tails from it. They fire up the academic BS generator, whip up an 84 page PDF with weird looking graphs, apply for more funding. Who's to know at the government ministry of spending cash any different?? Looks "academic" to them! Sounds important! Every six months, repeat, add in the new buzz words. Now anything with "security" in it, etc, will sell to the government."secure crypto predictive teleported analysis, now with improved nanoscale!" BS. Ya, right, *sure* it is! Then they go to conferences and once the doors are closed they have the hookers and booze sent in and laugh about stuff and think up the next cycle worth of BS.

  45. Copyright violation by Sir+Homer · · Score: 2, Funny

    If the virus starts replicating, are they commiting copyright violation?

    How will the RIAA sue? I'm sure they will find a way.

    1. Re:Copyright violation by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 1

      How will the RIAA sue? I'm sure they will find a way.

      Maybe they'll have to start calling themselves the RNAA?

      --
      This ain't rocket surgery.
  46. Re:mp3 players don't need it by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 1

    I see two possible reasons to use the MP3 player in the abstract:
    1- it is a non-volatile RAM. Flash is OK, but it has some drawbacks, in particular with the need to erase a full block to revert a 0 into a 1, which is quite long (several ms with the one I worked with). Of course, for a MP3 player, it's not a big problem since the data dosn't change that often.
    2- the author can't tell the difference.

    So I would tend to agree with you. Either way, MP3 player is very unlikely to be the initial target for any kind of new memory, in particular fast one since what they need is more on the line of something cheap with low power needs (the evolution I saw in telephones was the introduction of mirror bit technology: a slightly slower flash that had twice the capacity for the same price).

  47. MP3 player memory for Zune? by pete.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    It will come pre-loaded with viral material saving you the time and effort of gathering it yourself.

  48. Re:Ethical concerns by craagz · · Score: 0

    WEll there are already so many other places where viruses are used by humans. this is jsut another way. Bacteria are also used..case in point Lacto bacillus.

  49. It's not a virus... by MrNaz · · Score: 1

    ...it's a feature! Although, doesn't Microsoft have a patent on calling a virus a product?

    --
    I hate printers.
  50. Have you thought of the implications of all this by noigmn · · Score: 1

    Like imagine accidently killing the memory while cleaning. Or the overclockers feeding their memory stuff to help it clone itself.

    --
    Slashdot is powered by your submission.
  51. TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUSES OF THE WORLD ... by flickwipe · · Score: 1

    ... UNITE!

    We have nothing to lose but our platinum nanoparticles

  52. Smoke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    By coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco mosaic virus with platinum nanoparticles, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have created a transistor with very fast switching speed.

    You mean smoking speed?
  53. Making Computer Memory From a Virus? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How perverse!

  54. Re:Ethical concerns by Sushhh · · Score: 1, Funny

    Most would consider a virus to be non-living.

    Ah, so virii are like zombies! ...No, I mean, like dead zombies! ...No, wait...

  55. Therapy may help you dude by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, if you did some basic research .. and it's novel .. but you can't convince venture capitalists. The only thing left is to announce it and hope someone else sees something you missed, is willing to fund you to do more, or at the very least gets some use out of it. I do agree they should avoid over hyping the damn things though .. cause that's detrimental.

  56. for use with VLIW CPUs? by ratherpedestrian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Chemical name of Dahlemense Strain of Tobacco Mosaic Virus is 3rd longest in English language, apparently (not sure I'd want to have a conversation with anyone who thinks this is really a valid English word, but anyway):

            acetylseryltyrosylserylisoleucylthreonylserylproly lserylglutaminyl-
            phenylalanylvalylphenylalanylleucylserylserylvalyl tryptophylalanyl-
            aspartylprolylisoleucylglutamylleucylleucylasparag inylvalylcysteinyl-
            threonylserylserylleucylglycylasparaginylglutaminy lphenylalanyl-
            glutaminylthreonylglutaminylglutaminylalanylarginy lthreonylthreonyl-
            glutaminylvalylglutaminylglutaminylphenylalanylser ylglutaminylvalyl-
            tryptophyllysylprolylphenylalanylprolylglutaminyls erylthreonylvalyl-
            arginylphenylalanylprolylglycylaspartylvalyltyrosy llysylvalyltyrosyl-
            arginyltyrosylasparaginylalanylvalylleucylaspartyl prolylleucylisoleucyl-
            threonylalanylleucylleucylglycylthreonylphenylalan ylaspartylthreonyl-
            arginylasparaginylarginylisoleucylisoleucylglutamy lvalylglutamyl-
            asparaginylglutaminylglutaminylserylprolylthreonyl threonylalanylglutamyl-
            threonylleucylaspartylalanylthreonylarginylarginyl valylaspartylaspartyl-
            alanylthreonylvalylalanylisoleucylarginylserylalan ylasparaginylisoleucyl-
            asparaginylleucylvalylasparaginylglutamylleucylval ylarginylglycyl-
            threonylglycylleucyltyrosylasparaginylglutaminylas paraginylthreonyl-
            phenylalanylglutamylserylmethionylserylglycylleucy lvalyltryptophyl-
            threonylserylalanylprolylalanylserine

    1. Re:for use with VLIW CPUs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I once got a result from the

      $ fortune

      command in Linux, and this is what I got:

      methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleuc ylphenylalanylalanylglutamin-
      ylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylala nylphenylalanylvalylprolyl-
      phenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylproly lglycylisoleucylglutamylglu-
      taminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylle ucylisoleucylglutamylalanyl-
      glycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglyc ylisoleucylprolylphenylala-
      nylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylpr olylthreonylisoleucylgluta-
      minylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylp henylalanylalanylalanylgly-
      cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphe nylalanylglutamylmethionyl-
      leucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylh istidylprolylthreonylisoleu-
      cylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyros ylalanylasparaginylleucylva-
      lylphenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspa rtylglutamylphenylalanyltyro-
      sylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglyc ylvalylaspartylserylvalylleu-
      cylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylgl utamylserylalanylprolylphe-
      nylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginy lhistidylasparaginylvalylala-
      nylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylpr olylprolylaspartylalanylas-
      partylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminy lisoleucylalanylseryltyrosyl-
      glycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleu cylserylarginylalanylglycyl-
      valylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginy lalanylalanylleucylprolylleu-
      cylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyl lysylglutamyltyrosylasparagi-
      nylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylp henylalanylglycylisoleucylse-
      rylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanyla lanylisoleucylaspartylalanyl-
      glycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycyl serylalanylisoleucylvalylly-
      sylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasp araginylisoleucylglutamylpro-
      lylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyll ysylvalylphenylalanylvalyl-
      glutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonyl arginylserine, n.:
                      The chemical name for tryptophan synthetase A protein, a
                      1,913-letter enzyme with 267 amino acids.
                                      -- Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and
                                            Preposterous Words

  57. greenpeace by Bizzeh · · Score: 1

    i wonder how long it is before greenpeace make up some claim the virus is a living creature, and that this is cruelty to animals.

    1. Re:greenpeace by TheDreadSlashdotterD · · Score: 1

      Would that not be more like PITA?

      --
      I have nothing to say.
    2. Re:greenpeace by TheDreadSlashdotterD · · Score: 1

      I meant PETA. I realized that just after I hit submit. Sorry.

      --
      I have nothing to say.
    3. Re:greenpeace by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      Close enough.

  58. Steve Jobs is NOT a vegan! by Slithe · · Score: 1
    From Wikipedia:

    Jobs is not a vegetarian or vegan as is often claimed. Although he does not eat mammalian meat, he reportedly eats fish from time to time. This is known as pescetarianism.
    --
    ---- "XML is like violence. If it doesn't fix the problem, you aren't using enough."
  59. Re:Ethical concerns by witte · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What, you mean like killing animals for food ? (Don't get me wrong - I like dead animal chunks for diner.)
    Or having wild animals evolve into domesticated shadows of their former selves just to cater to our emotional needs ?
    Or breeding/engineering tomatoes/cows/dolphins that are bigger/juicier/smarter ?
    IMO nothing new, really. It's basically just a matter of disccusing which methods of "improvement" are ethically acceptable.
    (And even this is circumstantial. In times of crisis, ethics == luxury.)

    I'm more concerned about developing self-replicating hybrid tech (the whole mutation/evolution meme).
    The thing is, that's exactly where money is to be made. So I guess it will happen eventually. And at some point it will go horribly wrong. And no lessons will be learned.

  60. And when the virus dies? by bluesguy_1 · · Score: 1

    Do I go to the doctor and ask him for some anti-anti-viral medicine to fix my broken mp3 player?

  61. Add "Flesh Eating" and "Self Replicating" by kaos.geo · · Score: 1

    And you have the next Crichton bestseller's title.

    1. Re:Add "Flesh Eating" and "Self Replicating" by jrobinson5 · · Score: 1

      Umm, aren't all viruses self-replicating?

  62. Apple is damned then! by UrLordMafiu · · Score: 1

    Well if we are believe what Apple says about viruses, they cant get them, so this wont work with the iPod. THIS is an iPod killer! Wow!

  63. Pimp that Virus by giafly · · Score: 3, Funny

    What will those crazy scientists bling next?

    --
    Reduce, reuse, cycle
  64. Suitable for Macs! by SanderDJ · · Score: 1

    As long as the virusses look like fish. Agreed? Steve?

  65. Re:Ethical concerns by hotdiggitydawg · · Score: 1

    Even if the memory did mutate, I'd bet London to a brick it'd still throw fewer errors than the RAM in this piece of s### Dell box...

  66. God, I LOVE babbletech by r_bertram42 · · Score: 1

    Now, if we just harness this transistor's energy to the warp drive, we can produce a warp bubble 3 times the size. And with just a few modifications to the quad-polar phaser array the computer will be able to crash much faster! ...

    But it will still be full of viruses.

    --
    -- You must be yay-high to rule the world.
  67. Life is about to become more complicated by SanderDJ · · Score: 1

    From some security web site: "Some scanners claim to be able to disinfect viruses in memory, and they may even succeed in doing so, but it is generally highly recommended that you first make sure that there is no virus in memory before you attempt to clean your computer." Now that viruses can not only be in memory, but be memory itself, it's time to rewrite many books and web pages, before a lot of damage is done.

  68. Re:Virus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What were you thinking? Spraying Lysol around your computer! Are you nuts!?

  69. Temperature? by Plutonite · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Even virus RNA and cell wall can disintegrate at high temps. Will my memory melt if the cooling is not perfect?

  70. Re:Ethical concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My reply is to state that I believe that nothing has an inherent right to life. But if you go there, you have to ask yourself, "what is alive?"

    Is a bacterium alive? A viral cell? A foetus (or spermatozoa)?

    Where do you draw the line on this?

    Every living thing has a right to die, on the other hand...

  71. Re:Ethical concerns by saforrest · · Score: 1

    My initial question comes from my philosophy about living creatures, which is that everything has a right to live it's own life, free from human exploitation

    Um, okay, but...

    Most people have pointed out that we "subvert" plant and animals all the time, to eat them. I think this is ok, as long as the suffering for the animals involved is kept to a minimum.

    With respect, I think you're looking for a way to weasel out of some sort of moral guilt you might have about "suffering", whatever that means when applied to organisms in general.

    Look, as biological creatures we are responsible every death for the death of thousands of other biological creatures. Every time you swallow a morsel of food, of whatever sort, your stomach acid destroys thousands of bacteria. This is true of you, me, and the Buddhist monks who go about barefoot so as not to step on any bugs. We can't escape it.

    You can't say that everything has a right to live its own life, and yet claim that we can kill whatever we want as long as it doesn't suffer. If suffering is bad in itself, then death is far, far worse.

  72. It's alive!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So let me get this right... It's a virus meaning it lives.

    How long is this going to live? - Do we need to feed it?

    What happens if it mutates in your MP3 player? - I'm assuming the charts might become highly infectious.

  73. I'm Already Saving up! by faqmaster · · Score: 1

    Let me be the first to say: iPod Nano Platinum

    --
    Are you...Are you some kind of genius?
    No, ma'am, I'm just a regular Slashdot reader.
  74. I never thought of it as literal... by Daniel+Wood · · Score: 1

    Viral DRM, that is. Ouch.

  75. Re:Ethical concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a vegan, I'm going to say that I am not really losing my good night's sleep over this because:

    1. From ecological standpoint, manufacturing & using computers is already quite problematic. I fail to see how this adds up in any significant amount to that. (pollution from chip factories, silicon ore mining, chemical substances needed to create microchips, rising electricity usage, after-life disposing of used electronics...)

    2. We already need to use other life-forms in order to survive; food and clothing, for example. Again, I personally don't use any animal products since I do consider it ethically wrong since it is unnecessary for my own survival.

    3. Most biologists don't even consider viruses to be actually living things; I would think that claiming them to be aware of their own being (as animals are) and therefore entitled to the basic right of living a life free of unnecessary cruelty (as animals are) is a little bit far-fetched.

    Because of these things, I don't think that buying a memory chip made of viruses would be against my viewpoints and ethics any more than buying a memory chip made by conventional means in Taiwanese sweatshop with no environmental controls whatsoever. However, I am a little sceptic about the feasibility of this technology at this point, even if engineers can usually make things work. (Even if it only works for other engineers. :P )

  76. Re:Ethical concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Lets not forget that viruses main function is to subvert other lifeforms for their own use/benefit. So think of it more as a cultural exchange.

  77. Re:Ethical concerns by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

    Just use graduate students: they never have counted as life forms.

  78. Re:Ethical concerns by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    You could always replace that RAM.... ;)

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  79. Virus a lifeform, Pluto not a planet by SanderDJ · · Score: 1
    I just *knew* someone was going to bring something like this up.
    Glad to be of service.
    whether we need to redefine our parameters for life to include the virus
    Hey, until a few weeks ago Pluto was a planet. And Pluto is much bigger than most viruses.
  80. Re:Ethical concerns by egamma · · Score: 1

    According to Dogbert, law students only count as 3/5ths of a person.

    (It doesn't drop to 0 until they pass the bar)

  81. I can see the advertisement campaign by cob666 · · Score: 1

    Talk about viral marketing!

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
  82. When they break, you shoot them into the sun by smchris · · Score: 1

    It's hard to imagine the Vorlons ever grooved to Ol' Dirty Bastard, but this could be one small step.

  83. Hookers and booze? by stoneymonster · · Score: 1

    You SIR, have obviously never spent a SECOND in academia. -S

  84. Ethical concerns- Re-visited by smoker2 · · Score: 1
    This reminds me of a similar topic from way back.

    It's best to read right through to get the full effect ;-)
    Had to post it as ecode due to the lame lameness filter.

    Re:Is The U.S. Becoming Anti-Science?
    (Score:5, Insightful)
    by Coryoth 12:10 AM -- Saturday October 29 2005

    Why does no one ever attempt to explain that God created man using evolution as a tool? Whatever happened to the divine clockwinder theory?

    People do, but that doesn't mean it gets any acceptance from certain groups. One of the fundamental issues is that a lot of christians believe humans have a soul and that animals do not. For that to be true you need some divine intervention in the evolutionary process to grant humans a soul once they become human. My understanding is that even the Catholic church, which accepts evolution, holds that such an intervention occurred. Once you have to believe that God has some active hand in the evolutionary process it's not much of a stretch to accept a few more fiddles along the way and thus you get Intelligent Design: the belief that evolution occurs, but with ongoing active tweaking by some external entity.

    Basically it comes down to egocentrism - the desire to believe that humans are somehow special and separate from other living entities. To believe that you really need to believe that there was some active intervention to set humans apart. This really has little to do with religion necessarily (though most religions tend to grant humans such special status and hence have some explaining to do), but rather a general unwillingness to accept ourselves as simply a part of nature.

    In practice humans are really only very subtley different from other animals. Every time someone claims to have some defining property that sets humans apart from animals (self awareness, tool use, awareness of mortality, language, social learning, etc.) we find new examples of animals that do the same. Tool use is now widely noted across the animal kingdom, and self awareness, and awareness of mortality are reported for a variety of animals. At least some level of language has been noted amongst various animals, and efforts to teach great apes more advanced languages have been remarkably successful. We really don't give animals anywhere near enough credit.

    Jedidiah.

    Re:Is The U.S. Becoming Anti-Science?
    (Score:4, Interesting)
    by RWerp 12:53 AM -- Saturday October 29 2005
    "One of the fundamental issues is that a lot of christians believe humans have a soul and that animals do not."

    I'm a Christian and I believe animals have a soul, too. Only theirs is pure.

    Re:Is The U.S. Becoming Anti-Science?
    (Score:5, Funny)
    by rubycodez 02:21 AM -- Saturday October 29 2005
    and more importantly, it's surrounded by tasty meat.
    ROFLMAO
    1. Re:Ethical concerns- Re-visited by HeroreV · · Score: 1

      Wow, a Christian with low intelligence. I didn't know such people existed. </sarcasm>

  85. the biological part will eventually die by fpedraza · · Score: 1

    Ok, maybe there is an obvious fact I don't know, but how would they manage to keep the thing 'alive'?

    1. Re:the biological part will eventually die by illerd · · Score: 1

      viruses aren't alive. they're just chunks of dna coated in protein. so they don't have lifespans. but that's not to say that they aren't fragile. your point is valid.

  86. No more out of memory messages! by SanderDJ · · Score: 1

    Now that I know that viruses replicate, not grow: would it be sufficient to buy 1 KB of virus memory, feed it and wait until it becomes 1 TB? That would mean the end of memory makers, wouldn't it?

    1. Re:No more out of memory messages! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd still need to add more Pt nanoparticles for the replicated viruses to ionicly bond to...so no. It would not be the end of memory makers...they just would need to change their product line to include Pt and replication chemicals...

  87. Re:Ethical concerns by Eivind · · Score: 1

    Not thousands. Millions to billions.

  88. Can't RTFA? Welcome to /. by tepples · · Score: 1
    the soldiers catch viruses or agents that make them alternately unable to use articles

    They would fit in rawther well on Slashdot, where it appears that few read the f* article ;-)

  89. Related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In a related note; a fifteen-year-old claimed he was Making a Computer Virus from Memory.

    - Peder

  90. make a billion for a dollar? by peter303 · · Score: 1

    The problem with all these new super technologies is they rarely catch up in cost-performance to silicon. I usually hear of an idea liek this every month, but maybe one or two such technologies become commercial per decade.

  91. Re:Ethical concerns by sparkyng · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"

    I think of it more as a mutualism (or the very least, commensalism). The sole purpose of a virus is to replicate. Many viruses do that at the detriment to its host. But what better way to replicate than to become beneficial to the host (in this case, by storing data) such that the host actively "breeds" more of the virus? It's akin to saying you're "subverting" the bacterial flora in your gut for your own digestive purposes.

  92. Re:Ethical concerns by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Rights are man-made, and exist solely to permit a society. This is why the idea of "human rights" has changed so many times over the years. In the old days, it was the "right" of a king to do what he wanted to with "his" lands and subjects. It still is in some places with kings/warlords/dictators. No other life form has any rights at all, unless we give it to them. My objection to torturing animals, for instance, has very little to do with the animals. It's more of a "I don't want that wackjob wandering around society with the rest of us." That, and animals are sometimes cute, and I don't like to see cute things hurt. Torture mosquitoes to your heart's content. Mouse in the house? It must die. Cockroaches, subway rats, and those little dogs that pee in the middle of the sidewalk in New York City? Poison them slowly so that they suffer. If yeast must die to make my beer, then let's start the yeast holocaust.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  93. It's a Biological Virus? by Neil+Hodges · · Score: 1

    From the headline, I thought someone had found a way for a computer virus to "make more memory." In the physical sense, it doesn't work, but RAM doublers used to be quite common, and I'm sure there are other ways.

  94. RIAA.... by mrops · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow dude, RIAA is gonna hire a hitman to take you down for the copyright infringement.

    There is no way you can claim fairuse if you have a copy of songs etched in your neurons.

  95. Ask PETA. by mmell · · Score: 1
    People Eating Tasty Animals.

    Besides, you wouldn't want that nasty old virus to infect tobacco plants, would you? Won't somebody think of the smoking children?

  96. I can't wait.... by UnixRevolution · · Score: 1

    Till this memory comes into play in standard PC's so i can install virus protection software on it. Irony!

    --
    You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
  97. Ughhh... by dapsychous · · Score: 1

    I work in a computer store in backwater Tennessee. I have enough trouble explaining stuff to people now, next I'm going to have to explain the difference between a virus and a virus? I spent 20 minutes the other day explaining the concept of the double-click. Please kill me now.

  98. Re: Answering Questions on Life & Everything by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 1

    They found the missing "a" in Neil Armstrong's speech...
    So they used tech to find "One Small Step for *a* man, One Giant Leap for Mankind"

    Didn't Slashdot Loudly Yawn that one?

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  99. Re:Ethical concerns by gd23ka · · Score: 1

    I just asked the bear who prowls through my backyard if it is okay to subvert
    other lifeforms for our use. He looked at me puzzled, walked over and raised
    his right paw to maul me. Then he paused and asked me "You know what I am mauling
    you for?". I looked at him first in amazement, oh wow! a talking bear and then
    I remembered that he could just rip me apart if he wanted to so I ventured
    "I suppose its not okay to enslave other creatures or otherwise make use of them".
    The bear looked at me and rolled his eyes upward and then moaned: "You have no fur.
    You have no teeth. Youre the weakest critter in the world and now youre telling
    me youre the dumbest of them all. I dont fucking believe it! Look buster, this
    morning I ate my way through a bee hive and ate a couple of rats by digging them up
    in their burrow, for lunch I had a ton of nuts and berries and stopped by the cadaver
    of that dog that got run over last night and if Im lucky Im going to have moose
    for dinner tonight. If we bears had use for cameras we would stick you inside them to
    draw us pictures. I looked at him in amazement. According to him it was perfectly
    all right to subvert other lifeforms for his use. Before I had time to fully think
    things through he asked me, "Are you ready?". Ready for what, I asked him. "Ready
    to take your medicine, ready to take what you have coming furless freak!". I didnt
    answer him, I just ducked my head and then I woke up in the intensive care unit.

  100. We are the borg, you will live with DRM! by Wizzerd911 · · Score: 0

    no, you'd turn into one of the borg, a cyborg race of zombie-like drones that try to push DRM on people

    --
    Is it just me or is it not going to upgrade to Vista in here?
  101. Living? by Sienf · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, and what happens if people will reconsider that viruses might be living?

    Next thing we know, PETA will be protesting against using the poor buggers in transistors.

    1. Re:Living? by StringBlade · · Score: 1

      Kind of gives new meaning to the phrase "debugging memory code" eh?

      --
      ...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
  102. Re:Ethical concerns by aggiefalcon01 · · Score: 1

    Centuries of horses don't seem to mind. Great animals, beautiful machines ...

    --
    Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
  103. I am getting old by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1

    Computer viruses don't work like they used to.

  104. MOD PARENT UP by Transcendor · · Score: 1

    for christs sake, really, 100 microseconds switching time?
    best you can get from that is 10kHz oscillator (at optimal circumstances...).
    I think this experiment is interesting for other reasons than that it might one day replace non volatile memory types (which I highly doubt considering it s competitors to be FLASH, MRAM and others (somebody remembering millipede?)).
    It's interesting because someone actually used protein-based semi-crystaline surfaces in a way that could be compared to a classical neuron- But the article is as informative as a picture of an unilluminated cave at night.

  105. The second... by Hangin10 · · Score: 1

    The second you run an antivirus program, your RAM is shot to hell.

  106. Double the Memory by BigAssRat · · Score: 0

    The good news, is that as the virus spreads it doubles the memory every few hours...almost at the rate of keeping with Microsoft memory requirements.

  107. Re:Ethical concerns by Marvin01 · · Score: 1

    Fascinating... Live long and prosper!

  108. Re:Ethical concerns by robotfaceboy · · Score: 1

    haha great comments on this lol

  109. Why even name it? by iknowcss · · Score: 1

    You'd need to use all the memory the virus provides to store this semi-arbitrary name.

    --
    Life is rarely fair. Cherish the moments when there is a right answer.
  110. Nerds' Bedroom of the Future by TranscendentalAnarch · · Score: 1

    Petri dishes strewn all over, cell cultures growing in mountain dew cans from last month...

  111. metaviruses! by rye · · Score: 1

    So when the malware-du-jour loads itself into memory, you have a virus with a virus?

    *cool!!!*

  112. Re:Ethical concerns by zobier · · Score: 1

    Um; bread, beer...

    --
    Me lost me cookie at the disco.
  113. Re:Ethical concerns by zobier · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I meant that remark towards GP.
    HHIS :(

    --
    Me lost me cookie at the disco.
  114. Buzzzzzwords! + hype template by Stunning+Tard · · Score: 1

    By [doing somehing neato sounding] to [something mundane] using [some buzzy tech], researchers [somewhere], have created ["a mouse trap" with the -potential- to maybe, possibly, someday be harder/faster/stronger/more betterrer]. They say it could eventually be used to make [some pervasive commodity] for [some everyday domestic gadget AND military gadgets that will save US souls]. [Researchers will accept cash, cheque, visa and 10+ year extended research contracts]

  115. Great idea, since platinum is so abundant by macraig · · Score: 1

    What an excellent idea, to switch from making memory devices from one of the most abundant elements in the Earth's crust to one which is one of the least abundant, and is already doomed to "peak" soon like oil because of its commercial uses (can you say c-a-t-a-l-y-t-i-c c-o-n-v-e-r-t-e-r?), not to mention the frivolous ones. Yep, using platinum instead of boring old silicon should help drive down those pesky RAM prices, for sure.

  116. Beware The Swarm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's hope these viruses don't find a way to thrive on electricity. I don't want to see the buggers breaking free and reproducing to wreak havok on all tech.