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."

until you catch the virus

[Loconut1389 (455297)]

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

Re:

[idkk (414241)]

Yes - and they will be faster than normal!

Re:until you catch the virus

[Nocturnal Deviant (974688)]

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

Buzzzzzwords!

[tygerstripes (832644)]

Tobacco, virus, nanotech... oh my!

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

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[TaoPhoenix (980487)]

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

Re:

[dpmapping (873820)]

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

Re:

[tygerstripes (832644)]

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

Last time

[jlebrech (810586)]

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

Designer Viruses - extreme weirdness

[spineboy (22918)]

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 pl

Re:

[TrekkieGod (627867)]

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.

Great

[arun_s (877518)]

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

Future trends...

[Savage-Rabbit (308260)]

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.

mp3 players don't ned it

[by Anonymous Coward]

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

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

Re:mp3 players don't ned it

[dk-software-engineer (980441)]

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.

Logical evolution

[zeropointburn (975618)]

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.

This thread makes Jamie Lee Curtis sad.

[Channard (693317)]

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

Very fast switching speed????

[Maddog Batty (112434)]

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?

Re:

[noigmn (929935)]

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...

Ya know what I'm sick of..

[QuantumG (50515)]

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.

MOD PARENT UP!

[MLopat (848735)]

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.

Re:Ya know what I'm sick of..

[teslar (706653)]

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.

Re:

[QuantumG (50515)]

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?

Re:

[ArwynH (883499)]

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.

who's on first?

[circletimessquare (444983)]

"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)

Re:

[mennucc1 (568756)]

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

Re:who's on first?

[indifferent children (842621)]

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

Re:

[lisaparratt (752068)]

Scan complete!

423,827
Viruses found!

A new record!!

Re:

[Chris Mattern (191822)]

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

Chris Mattern

Not suitable for Macs

[SanderDJ (1004445)]

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

Re:

[Da3vid (926771)]

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 [wikipedia.org]. 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.

Re:

[Da3vid (926771)]

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

Reverse-reverse meme?

[Unique2 (325687)]

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

Dual-purpose memory

[StringBlade (557322)]

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 [wikipedia.org]

virus-based memory ?

[l3v1 (787564)]

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

In other news ...

[JumpingBull (551722)]

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....

The first?

[gmby (205626)]

So is this the first analog computer virus?

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

Looks like google agrees.

Copyright violation

[Sir Homer (549339)]

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

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

MP3 player memory for Zune?

[pete.com (741064)]

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

for use with VLIW CPUs?

[ratherpedestrian (764909)]

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

Pimp that Virus

[giafly (926567)]

What will those crazy scientists bling next?

Re:Ethical concerns

[jginspace (678908)]

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 [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[TaoPhoenix (980487)]

"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."

Yeah, I think that everyday...

[hummassa (157160)]

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

Re:Ethical concerns

[CosmeticLobotamy (155360)]

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.

Re:

[Fizzl (209397)]

"Yes"
Next question?

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[Tim C (15259)]

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

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[sagefire.org (731545)]

So, you don't think of broccoli, lettuce, and tomatoes to be alive?

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

Re:Ethical concerns

[famebait (450028)]

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.

Re:

[somersault (912633)]

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 problem

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[Dr. Eggman (932300)]

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

In Soviet Union, cockroach controls robot! [directions.jp]