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ICYMI: Computer chips cooled by 'blood,' tiny tank and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: IBM Research in Zurich is using fluid to both power and cool computer chips, modeled off of the way the human brain works. University of Southampton scientists created small glass discs for mega data storage that they say can survive for billions of years. A new unmanned ground vehicle that's basically a DIY tank is available for all those die-hard infantry fans. If you need your dose of nature, check out the video from a Minnesota-based YouTuber of the ice on Lake Superior breaking. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Researchers tout self-repairing multi-core processors
The race for ever-tinier computer chips is on, and barring physical limitations, doesn't seem to be slowing anytime soon -- but with chips, as with humans, the smaller they get, the more fragile they become. A team of researchers called CRISP (Cutting edge Reconfigurable ICs for Stream Processing) is working to create a self-repairing multi-core processor that would allow on-chip components to keep on shrinking, while combating concerns over accelerated degradation. Basically, the team's conceptualized a chip that allows for 100 percent functionality, even with faulty components. With multiple cores sharing tasks, and a run-time resource manager doling out those tasks, the chip can continue to degrade without ever compromising its intended functions -- a process CRISP calls graceful degradation. Once one core fails, the on-chip manager assigns its task to another core, continuing on in this fashion for the complete lifetime of the chip. Of course the technology is still in its infancy, but if CRISP's chips comes to fruition, we could see virtually indestructible processors that make 14nm look bulky by comparison.
Crystal discovery could pave the way for new generation of computer chips
The discovery is still literally in the building blocks stage, but a team of researchers from Florida State University say that four new so-called "multiferroic" crystals they've identified could eventually lead to a "new generation" of computer chips. Those new chips would apparently not only be able to expand the capacity of storage devices by 1,000 to a million times but, since data would be written both electrically and magnetically, they'd also be far more secure. As if that wasn't enough, the researchers also say any future chips would have "far less environmental impact" than current chips, as they wouldn't rely on lead as chips now do. Of course, the researchers are quick to point out that won't happen overnight, with Sir Harold Kroto saying that this discovery is "where the transistor was when it was first invented," and adding that "it's a long, hard road before we catch up."
