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Programming language makes circuits out of bacteria
Biological circuits have been a reality for years. However, making them is no mean feat: you typically have to create everything from scratch, which is impractical for everyone but a specialized genetic engineer. MIT has a better way, though. It developed a programming language that makes it comparatively easy to produce these organic machines -- you just write code (based on existing computer instructions) and get a bacteria-friendly DNA sequence that does what you want. In the lab, sample circuits in E. coli did everything from ranking inputs to measuring oxygen levels.
Inefficient? MIT's new chip software doesn't know the meaning of the word
Would you rather have a power-hungry cellphone that could software-decode hundreds of video codecs, or a hyper-efficient system-on-chip that only processes H.264? These are the tough decisions mobile designers have to make, but perhaps not for much longer. MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has developed a solution that could spell the end for inefficient devices. Myron King and Nirav Dave have expanded Arvind's BlueSpec software so engineers can tell it what outcomes they need and it'll decide on the most efficient design -- printing out hardware schematics in Verilog and software in C++. If this outcome-oriented system becomes widely adopted, we may never need worry about daily recharging again: good because we'll need that extra power to juice our sporty EV. [Image courtesy of MIT / Melanie Gonick]
