Other developments in computing:

• AI is being applied to the prevention of
  malariaand other vector-borne diseases.
• Grid computing is a key element of
  the UK’s National Technology Strategy.
• In three to five years, IBM may be producing computer chips that assemble themselves.
• Caltech has made a better conductive plastic material for
  e-paper and e-clothing.

Toshiba will be taking orders by this Summer for delivery next year of a two
gigabyte hard disk 0.85 inches in diameter. It is intended to store music and
video in cell phones and other portable gadgets.

Reference: Unknown (2003). “Toshiba Develops
Tiny Disk for Phones.” Associated Press, December 15.

Spintronic Data Storage

In a conventional electronic circuit, electrons spin randomly. The new field
of spintronics allows the spin of the electrons to be controlled (hence
“spintronics”) by applying a magnetic field to the electrons, and that
capability can be exploited to carry and store data. A spintronic-based computer
would boot up instantly because the boot-up instructions would be stored in a
magnetic RAM drive instead of in a slow mechanical drive, and it would not lose
data in the event of a crash. The remarkable storage density of one bit per
electron would also mean an exponential jump in storage capacity on the RAM
drive compared to a conventional hard disk.

Swedish researchers recently made a ferromagnetic semiconductor material that
might do the job, while Ohio State University researchers have been exploring
the use of plastic magnets. One way or another, a major leap in computing is
likely within about five years from spintronics alone — and it is by no means
the only innovative approach with blockbuster potential.

Reference: Unknown (2003). “Spin Material
Handles Heat.” Technology Research News, December 2.

Reference: Knapp, Louise (2002). “Better PCs With
Plastic Magnets.” Wired News, October 9.

AI and Disease Prevention

The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and the University of California
are collaborating on artificial intelligence software to help prevent outbreaks
of malaria, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, and other vector-borne diseases.
The software will analyze data from places prone to such diseases, looking for
factors that predict a sudden outbreak. The project, called Envis, is
supported by the World Bank and the Indian government.

Reference: Mahalakshmi, B.V. (2003). “Artificial
Intelligence To Help Prevent Vector-borne Diseases.” Financial Express,
December 22.

Britain Backs Grid

The British government plans to create a National Technology Strategy to
stimulate innovation and technology exports. Grid computing is one of the
technologies singled out as an important innovation, with the e-diamond
(Digital Mammography National Database) project, which provides broadband access
to patient data and powerful analytical and data-mining tools, cited as an
exemplary innovation.

Reference: Donoghue, Andrew (2003). “British government backs grid
technology.” CNET News.com, December 17.

Self-assembling Chips

Last
month we reported on progress toward the Universal Assembler, the dream
machine of nanotechnology that can assemble itself into a desired object,
including an Israeli technique that uses
DNA to assemble chip components. IBM has demonstrated a technique that comes
close to achieving the same thing but by a different route. It uses common
industrial polymer molecules that self-assemble into precise and predictable
patterns, which are then used as stencils for drawing computer chip circuits.
IBM used the process to create “flash-memory-like” chips.

The chips’ memory cells are 20 nanometers in diameter — about one hundred
times smaller than current memory cells. That would mean that a “self-assembled”
chip the same size as a current chip would store one hundred times as much data.
The technique could be used to build other kinds of microchips, as well.

If the process can be translated from the lab to industrial production it
could eliminate complex lithography and its US$15-18 million machines. CNET’s
Michael Kanellos reports that IBM “expects some form of self-assembly to be in
pilot production three to five years from now,” and that other companies are
also pursuing the technology.

Reference: Kanellos, Michael (2003). “IBM gets chip circuits to draw
themselves.” CNET News.com, December 7.

Reference: Feder, Barnaby J. (2003). “I.B.M. Set to
Unveil Chip-Making Advance.” New York Times, December 8.

Reference: Unknown (2003). “DNA Assembles
Nanotube Transistor.” Technology Research News, November 26.

See also “Nanocomponents” in the
Devices section of this issue.

Plastic Circuits

Not to be outdone by Princeton and Hewlett-Packard researchers who, we noted
last
month, have created a WORM* memory material using conducting polymer,
researchers at the California Institute of Technology have devised an
inexpensive way to add better-conducting organic source and drain electrodes to
organic thin-film transistors for flexible displays, radio frequency ID (RFID)
tags, electronic paper, and electronic textiles.

* Write Once, Read Many times.

Reference: Unknown (2003). “Carbon Boosts
Plastic Circuits.” Technology Research News, December 4.