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Massively Parallel Computer Built From Single Layer of Molecules

Posted by Soulskill on from the thin-client-solutions dept.

djeps sends in this excerpt from the Physics arXiv Blog: "Japanese scientists have built a cellular automaton from individual molecules that carries out huge numbers of calculations in parallel. ... At the heart of their experiment is a ring-like molecule called 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone, or DDQ. This has an unusual property: it can exist in four different conducting states, depending on the location of trapped electrons around the ring. What's more, it's possible to switch the molecule from one to state to another by zapping it with voltages of various different strengths using the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope. It's even possible to bias the possible states that can form by placing the molecule in an electric field. Place two DDQ molecules next to each other and it's possible to make them connect. ... When one molecule changes its state, the change in configuration ripples from one molecule to the next, forming and reforming circuits as it travels."

7 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Last year's news by gzipped_tar · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is impressive discovery, but it's no longer news. The paper was published in April 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys1636 Admittedly the authors only recently uploaded a copy to arXiv on October 17, but can we not pretend this is some breaking news for nerds?

    --
    Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    1. Re:Last year's news by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 2

      This is impressive discovery, but it's no longer news. The paper was published in April 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys1636 Admittedly the authors only recently uploaded a copy to arXiv on October 17, but can we not pretend this is some breaking news for nerds?

      Where did you get the idea that /. was about breaking news? The stuff that shows up on here is usually two of: interesting, breaking, accurate. Thankfully, the editors often choose accurate over breaking.

    2. Re:Last year's news by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

      Indeed- many things I read on slashdot I read online elsewhere the week before.

      (I still come over to the story to compulsively comment even if I have nothing useful to say)

      I don't mind the delay- gives me time to gather my thoughts on the issue first.

      I've got a great article on Microsoft's next OS, Windows 7, I'm planning on submitting tonight- supposedly it's going to fix all the problems in Vista...

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. Re:Practical Applications? by arnoldo.j.nunez · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I research in the related field of memristors. While I agree with skepticism, someone has to first demonstrate that the technology can work. There are typically grants handed out by the government (e.g. SBIR) that spurs interest in first showing that it works over a half a year period, in second developing that idea into more production-worthy product over two or so years, and in finally taking the training wheels off to let people find their own funding to start a small business around a relatively new technology.

  3. Cool, but not a CA and not parallel by Hentes · · Score: 2

    This is an awsome project, but the researchers make some claims that are not true. First, this is not a CA, as molecules affect other molecules in a big radius not just their neighbours. Second, a computer is not massively parallel just because it's realized on a CA. That's like saying that silicon-based chips are massively parallel because each of the great number of electrons "computes" its path on its own.

    1. Re:Cool, but not a CA and not parallel by gilleain · · Score: 2

      This is an awsome project, but the researchers make some claims that are not true. First, this is not a CA, as molecules affect other molecules in a big radius not just their neighbours.

      So isn't that just a highly connected CA? What about a CA where each cell is connected to all the rest - it might behave very differently to a more grid-like CA, but it still counts as one.

      Second, a computer is not massively parallel just because it's realized on a CA.

      The image in that link looks like a non-parallel computer in a CA. So, yes, you can throw away the advantages of parallelism if you like; what's your point? They are claiming that their setup could be parallel, not that it must be.

  4. OC? by jirikivaari · · Score: 2

    So, how do I overclock this?