Scientists have discovered a groundbreaking way to make computers faster with a virus different from the ones we are used to, acting as a -phase change- memory.
Scientists from MIT and the Singapore University of Technology and Design have used a biological virus to create a new kind of memory. Their findings are surprising and were published in Applied Nano Materials.
When a computer transfers data from fast RAM (Random Access Memory) to slower but more reliable ROM (Read Only Memory), or to some storage medium, the process takes a few milliseconds.
But if this process (transferring data between 2 pieces of hardware) could be replaced by a piece of hardware, known as phase change memory, the entire process would be completed in nanoseconds. Phase changing memory could be faster than RAM and have larger storage capacities than the hard drives we use today.
However, phase change memory requires a material that can switch between crystalline and amorphous states. This change could cause the material to separate, making it difficult to implement in computing systems. “Our research team found a way to overcome this problem using tiny wires!”
The researchers discovered that the M13 bacteriophage could be used for this specific task, as it is ideal for attracting binary materials to the wires, thus allowing the creation of the infamous phase changing memory.
Perhaps the key to today's supercomputers ultimately lies not in innovative processor architectures, but in "biological viruses" capable of replacing 2 pieces of hardware that create the phenomenon known as a bottleneck.
