Brain-Inspired Computer Made From Duroquinone

hasu notes that scientists at the National Institute for Materials Science at Tsukuba in Japan have created a device, consisting of 17 duroquinone molecules on a gold surface, that can in theory encode 4.3 billion outcomes. The "device" does not constitute a practical computer, since it requires both a scanning tunneling microscope and operation near absolute zero. A single duroquinone is surrounded by sixteen others, and weak chemical bonds allow a pulse to the central molecule to shift all seventeen molecules in a variety of ways. Each duroquinone has four different "settings," so a single pulse can have 4^16 possible outcomes. As a demonstration the researchers docked 8 other nano-devices to their 17-molecule computer. It is unclear how well they have characterized the inputs that result in 4.3 billion different outputs. They are working on a 3D design that would have 1,024 duroquinone molecules surrounding a central one.

Medical nano bots

[NMajik]

Given the current state of this technology (requiring a STM and very low temperatures) I question how soon, if ever, this type of "computer" will become useful for independent nano bots, especially within the human body or other non-ideal environment. However, for working on a molecular scale to control things in a lab, this technology seems to have more immediate promise.

Nano

[Dr. Eggman]

Nanotechnology? That's so early 2000's, we're onto picotechnology now!

Seriously, though, this is incredibly small! The molecular computation machiniery necessary to direct our nanomachines are going to be far more interesting, challenging, and incredible than the nanomachines themselves.

Re:So it can store an integer up to 4.3 billion?

[MozeeToby]

This is their wimpy 16 part prototype. Eventually, they hope to control 1024 parts, allowing them to store 4^1024 bits of data with a single pulse... in a single molecule.

Re:Elaboration Please

[ElizabethGreene]

Yes, that is what "absolute zero" means. "Near absolute zero" means the temperature at which the ambient energy within the molecules is less than what would be required to force the logical gates into a non-random state. The paper will certainly elaborate on their exact methodology, but I will hazard an uneducated guess. It probably means operating in a partial vacuum or inert atmosphere and the plate was probably immersed or plumbed in Liquid Helium (boiling point 3.2-4.2 Kelvin depending on the isotope.

In the grand scheme of nanotechnology, this is a fairly remarkable step up from IBM's "Wright Brothers'" moment when they spelled their name with an STEM. It is a functioning computer at >100nm. Cool.

-Ellie

Memory vs Computation

[ruin20]

Depending on the nature of the weak chemical bond and how the 16 molecules respond the slight charge, you might actually see different states for different charges which leads to input output relationship. It sounds like when you rotate one of the molecules, the others change appropriately. It's possible then that you could structure the molecules in such a way that you could form logic gates where you'd set two of them and a chain would produce a series of logical operators, however it also seems to function in base four, so it would have to be a fuzzy logic. And with that I've reached my thinking quota for today.