in the shell

Freitag wrote:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 212312.htm

Implantable short term memories.

Is this perhaps the right way to interface with a computer? (at least for retrieving facts from a remote server)

They tested them on cats who were anesthetized but whose eyes were functioning. The electrodes recorded the signals from the eyes of the cats as they were shown visual images.

The ability to port data in and out of consciousness has been demonstrated in multiple capacities with multiple interfaces ranging from low-fidelity non-invasive to high-fidelity radically invasive. Although these technologies seem like science fiction, they are being vigorously explored by academic, medical, and commercial interests, with companies like BrainGate seeking patents on multiple neural interfaces and software platforms simultaneously

University of California, Merced (UCM) researchers have created a part-human, part-machine device that features a nano-sized transistor embedded in a cell-like membrane that is powered by the cell's fuel. The researchers say the device could be used to relay information about disease-related proteins inside the cell membrane, and eventually lead to new ways to read and influence brain or nerve cells. "This device is as close to the seamless marriage of biological and electronic structures as anything else that people did before," says UCM's Aleksandr Noy. The transistor is based on a carbon nanotube, a tiny straw-shaped material made from a single curved layer of carbon atoms arranged like the panels of a soccer ball. The carbon nanotube transistor was coated with a lipid bilayer and an ion pump was added, which is fueled by a solution of adenosine tri-phosphate. The ion pump changes the electrical charge within the cell, which then changes the charge in the transistor. However, researchers say that in future versions of the device an outside electrical current could power the device, which could enable the transistor to monitor and treat diseases.

Quantum electron submarine holds the key to real, practical nanotechnology

Quantum electron submarine holds the key to real, practical nanotechnologyIn order to achieve levels of nanotechnology depicted in science fiction, we need to build machines one atom at a time. We're not there yet, but now we've got a powerful, indirect way to manipulate individual atoms.

Before this new breakthrough, the closest we had gotten to individual atom manipulation was to rather clumsily push atoms around using a scanning tunnelling microscope, or STM. This microscope has a stylus that is only one atom thick, from which it shoots electrons to obtain images on the atomic scale. Although this method did allow direct control of individual atoms, it was a rough, inefficient process that didn't offer much hope of acquiring the precision necessary for nanotechnology.

That may be about to change, thanks to Richard Palmer, Peter Sloan, and Sumet Sakulsermsuk of the UK's University of Birmingham. They placed the stylus of an STM in a tiny indent on a thin slice of silicon, and then emitted electrons from the stylus. The electrons burrowed into the silicons and traveled like a quantum wave function. This allowed them to avoid surface imperfections that would otherwise obstruct their path. The researchers have dubbed this electron wave a "quantum submarine."

Quantum electron submarine holds the key to real, practical nanotechnology

Now, here's the important part as far as nanotechnology is concerned. The electrons broke the chemical bonds holding chlorobenzene molecules to the surface of the silicon crystal. With those molecules dispatched, it's now possible to manipulate the atoms on the silicon surface. The researchers suggest one could manufacture silicon wafers using just this method, in which tiny pits are created on the surface into which electrons can be injected.

The resulting electron waves would then shape and pattern the surface according to the placement and power of the wave, allowing precise manipulation of the silicon's individual atoms, which would be a huge step towards eventually achieving the nanotechnology of science fiction.