MolecularCommunication
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Researchers work to replicate bacterial communication, add a bit of chaos to transmissions
Up until now, most scientists felt that the uncertainty introduced by Brownian motion would lead to unwanted disruptions in the reception of information, particularly when talking about transmissions within computers. But do we really need all that certainty when using CPUs to solve alien mysteries? According to researchers at the University of Toronto, the answer is a probable "no." Recent discoveries over at the institution involving the replication of bacterial communication have paved the way for future investigation of using molecular communication in computing, but we're obviously a good way out from liquid cooling merging with liquid processing. Update: Sachin Kadloor, a current graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, worked on this while a graduate student at the University of Toronto. Prof. Ravi Adve from the University of Toronto, and Prof. Andrew Eckford from the York University, Canada are continuing to work on this problem.
NTT DoCoMo hopes to diagnose disease, predict other misfortunes from cellphones
We like to think that NTT, Japan's dominant telephone company, is a serious corporation. So when NTT DoCoMo issues a press release claiming to have successfully demonstrated the world's first "molecular delivery system for molecular communication," we figure this must be significant. The technology and biochemistry at the foundation sure seems to be. In an experiment, NTT DoCoMo confirmed the use of synthesized DNA to transport specific molecules through the body. The process converts chemical energy into mechanical work so there's no need for an external power supply or control mechanism. The hope then is to one day plant a "biochip" in a cellphone which can read "excitement, emotion, stress or disease" from the simmering juices (blood, sweat and tears) pooled inside the meatsicles of "living organisms." This is where things start to fall apart. Seeing as how this is Japan, that ambiguous target audience means you and your pets. Robots too, just as soon as they get skin. And when the English press release claims that a bio-chipped phone could be applicable to "fortune telling" -- well, we've lost all hope.[Thanks, StopSpamming]
