Japanese scientists have designed a machine just a few molecules large that mimics how the brain works. It could one day act as a remote control for groups of nano-machines.
The molecular device - just 2 billionths of a meter across - was able to control 8 of the microscopic machines at the same time.
The device can simultaneously carry out 16 times more operations than a normal computer transistor.
“This project is part of a massive brain building project, and this is first success towards this end,” says Dr Anirban Bandyopadhyay, National Institute of Material Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
The machine is made from 17 molecules of the chemical duroquinone. Duroquinone is less than a nanometer, or a billionth of a meter large. This makes it hundreds of times smaller than a wavelength of visible light.
One molecule sits at the center of a ring formed by the remaining 16. All are connected by chemical bonds, known as hydrogen bonds. The entire invention sits on a surface of gold. Its state is controlled and switched by a scanning tunneling microscope (STM).
Using the STM, the researchers can change the central molecule’s state and simultaneously switch the states of the surrounding 16.
The configuration allows 4 billion different possible combinations of outcome.
The 2 nanometre diameter structure was inspired by the parallel communication of glial cells inside a human brain, according to the scientists.
This machine could serve as the foundation of a powerful computer.
source:interesting science news
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