Platinum-coated virus to be used for speedy memory

All the hip-cool scientists these days are enslaving living organisms to do their bidding. Luckily, they're sticking with the micro end of the size spectrum, or "nano" end in this case. Apparently they've managed to create some supa' fast memory chips by coating 30-nanometer-long bits of tobacco mosaic virus (pictured above in its natural habitat) with itsy-bitsy platinum nanoparticles. Millions of these virus transistors could eventually end up in MP3 players or digital cameras, speeding up image capture or file transfer. We're not exactly sure what makes these virus transistors so special, but apparently the transistors they've built out of the nano-coated strands, and sandwiched between two electrodes, are easy to switch between ON and OFF states, since they don't need to build up a charge at a lame-o capacitor before they can be switched. We suppose we'll just have to trust the methods of these "well meaning scientists who might just instigate the end of civilization through their attempts to advance humanity through science." If it means faster memory chips, that's a risk we're willing to take.

[JasJarBling @ Oct 5th 2006 10:10AM]

So our electronics will eventually be infested with virus, physically? :S

[Anthony Green @ Oct 5th 2006 10:12AM]

This adds a whole new meaning to my PC has a virus.

[Regula Oblique @ Oct 5th 2006 10:33AM]

Im alright I dont wanna catch anything from downloading lol.

[Croz @ Oct 5th 2006 10:58AM]

You won't catch anything off one of these unless you are a salad.

[RickDom @ Oct 5th 2006 10:33AM]

I, for one, welcome out new platinum-coated viral overlords.

[Pete @ Oct 5th 2006 10:35AM]

What do the viruses (virii?) attach to? Don't they need some sort of host or food or something?

[SlyEcho @ Oct 5th 2006 12:48PM]

Viruses don't need to eat because they're not alive.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 5th 2006 10:36AM]

How long would it take for WWF/PETA to realize the mischief and to start screaming for rights of virii/bacteria/etc?

And congress to pass bill for rights of virii? With minimum hourly wages clarifier! Those freaky scientist - they do not think that in democracy we would allow any*body* to exploit others? ;*)

[elmapache @ Oct 8th 2006 3:59PM]

im a salad

[Paulstar @ Oct 5th 2006 11:01AM]

We are the Borg, resistance is futile.

[Jason @ Oct 5th 2006 11:17AM]

No credit to /. ? They posted this story at 5am. I don't mind the redistribution of interesting news, thats why I read engadget. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it just looks fishy.

[Naegling @ Oct 5th 2006 12:01PM]

can we get them to multiply?

FREE MEMORY!

They might even keep up with the requirments for the next Windows OS...

[JiltedCitizen @ Oct 5th 2006 12:07PM]

Great the precursor to replicators. It's only a matter of time before they rise up and destroy us all.

[JiltedCitizen @ Oct 5th 2006 12:08PM]

Great the precursor to replicators. It's only a matter of time before they rise up and destroy us all.

[matt @ Oct 5th 2006 6:45PM]

Virii aren't living creatures... they are strands of RNA... so it's really just protien...

[rwebbart @ Oct 5th 2006 12:47PM]

The race has been on to build a molecular computer for several years if not decades. They idea is that instead of having millions of switches go on and off in a linear fashion (1 to 1,000,000), the "Bio Chip" can learn and do it simultaniously. Sounds like SciFi but it is less than 20 years away. Imagine a supercomputer the size of your Ipod or Zune.

EXAMPLE
You have to cut the grass of "the lawn" in DC.
With todays technology you have to cut it with a big rotating blade by going down and back in rows. (a lawnmower)
With molecular technology you just have millions of little nano thingys go out and cut a single blade of grass each at the exact same instant.

[rwebbart @ Oct 5th 2006 12:49PM]

I need to clarify....
This technology won't be used to cut grass, It was just easier to type that example (and a little less boring) than trying to type out how a curcuit board works.

[scaryface @ Oct 5th 2006 2:39PM]

Eh? Since when are viruses living organisms? Theyre just protein encapsulated DNA/RNA.

[Nikita @ Oct 5th 2006 8:30PM]

This is such old news! This was in Scientific American about a month ago. It explains how they use viruses to build electronics really well.

[Ferny @ Oct 5th 2006 8:41PM]

but how long will they last?

[esch @ Oct 6th 2006 3:36AM]

Er, they're painted with platinum; I'm guessing they're pretty inert, and won't be infecting anything anytime soon. They're most likely using them simply for their structure rather than their viral functions.

[Eli Gibson @ Oct 7th 2006 9:36PM]

Who says "hip-cool scientists ... 're sticking with the micro end of the size spectrum"? Luis von Ahn has been enslaving humans to do his bidding (labelling images) with ESP Game. He just got a MacArthur Foundation Genius (aka hip-cool) Fellowship for his work on human computation.