We’ve received an update on work by our friend Anirban Bandyopadhyay at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan. Here’s the abstract of his recent Nature Physics paper:
Modern computers operate at enormous speeds—capable of executing in excess of 1013 instructions per second—but their sequential approach to processing, by which logical operations are performed one after another, has remained unchanged since the 1950s. In contrast, although individual neurons of the human brain fire at around just 103times per second, the simultaneous collective action of millions of neurons enables them to complete certain tasks more efficiently than even the fastest supercomputer. Here we demonstrate an assembly of molecular switches that simultaneously interact to perform a variety of computational tasks including conventional digital logic, calculating Voronoi diagrams, and simulating natural phenomena such as heat diffusion and cancer growth. As well as representing a conceptual shift from serial-processing with static architectures, our parallel, dynamically reconfigurable approach could provide a means to solve otherwise intractable computational problems.
He explains:
…we have realized 700 bits parallel processing using cellular automaton for the first time in the world. This is a significant advancement from our 16 bit parallel processing which you highlighted in your website (https://foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2687)…This invention may be in coherence with the Feynman’s vision…We can solve some problems which computers will take more than the age of this universe. We did it in 6-10 minutes (in the Nature Physics paper).
Some coverage:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36788441/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/
http://www.natureasia.com/asia-materials/highlight.php?id=708&utm_source=NPG+Asia+Materials&utm_content=Research+Highlights
Anirban writes, “Hope you may like this.” We do indeed! —Christine Peterson
