Flipping over to alternate energy sources isnt just the rage in vehicles, as weve seen steam-powered and string-powered computers already, and now were witnessing an oddity thats actually energized by bubbles. The "microfluidic" computer performs calculations by squeezing bubbles through tiny channels etched into a chip, and although it runs around 1,000 times slower than youre average desktop today and takes up quite a bit more room, no AC outlet is required to churn out chemical analysis. Manu Prakash and Neil Gershenfeld of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms created the devices by "etching channels about one micron wide into silicon, and then using nitrogen bubbles contained in water to represent bits of information flowing through these channels." The computer utilizes Boolean logic functions to carry out its work, and the researchers are already envisioning it carrying bubbles of molecules or individual cells to "conduct diagnostics or detect pathogens." Well admit, a bubble-powered PC aint too shabby, but even proponents fessed up that such a snail isnt putting modern day machine vendors out of business anytime soon.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Microfluidic computer runs on bubbles, deals in chemical analysis
Flipping over to alternate energy sources isnt just the rage in vehicles, as weve seen steam-powered and string-powered computers already, and now were witnessing an oddity thats actually energized by bubbles. The "microfluidic" computer performs calculations by squeezing bubbles through tiny channels etched into a chip, and although it runs around 1,000 times slower than youre average desktop today and takes up quite a bit more room, no AC outlet is required to churn out chemical analysis. Manu Prakash and Neil Gershenfeld of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms created the devices by "etching channels about one micron wide into silicon, and then using nitrogen bubbles contained in water to represent bits of information flowing through these channels." The computer utilizes Boolean logic functions to carry out its work, and the researchers are already envisioning it carrying bubbles of molecules or individual cells to "conduct diagnostics or detect pathogens." Well admit, a bubble-powered PC aint too shabby, but even proponents fessed up that such a snail isnt putting modern day machine vendors out of business anytime soon.
