Nano machines
There is a race among scientists and researchers to develop computers that operate on the molecular level using only a few atoms to convey information and do calculations. Binary technology with its simple 1 & 0 or on & off allows for technology of the most complex kinds to be represented by almost anything. While some scientists rely on electronic means to create smaller and more energy efficient computers, others are looking to find a solution through biology.

Both ideas are still experimental and each of them has potential advantages and disadvantages. Neither is ready to build an alternative for your home computer yet, but recent developments have shifted the balance in favour of the biological models. This could have many implications in the world of computers.

Computers have reduced their size from the era of vacuum tubes to transistors. With each reduction in size the result was an exponential increase in power and efficiency of computers. Today’s personal computers are incredibly more powerful than the computers of the early space age.

It is not so difficult to understand why so much effort and research has gone into the development of computers, which will work using components that are molecular in size. Our ability to reduce the size of microprocessors using currently available technology is fast losing its appeal. This is because the Newtonian laws of physics become irrelevant and inapplicable at the atomic level where the laws of quantum physics govern. So it is necessary that we devise a whole new approach in our effort to push the power of the computer beyond the current boundaries. Yet, the complications of quantum mechanics has made many believe that what once seemed very near on the horizon may be further off than imagined. This prompted the biological approach to solve the problem.

Microbiologists had examples of micro-machines with molecular components around them all the time. Single-celled animals and plants working with components, which operated through enzyme stimulation, offered an interesting model. Colonies of living organisms offered examples of micro computing that had been previously overlooked. If binary is either an “off” or an “on” these living things switched off and on by reacting to enzymes. Somewhere along the way someone figured that if a small scale biological reaction could be detected, living material could be used as a computer.

This theory has been successfully tested using enzymes to cause DNA strands to calculate using binary. The strands opened and closed in response to external input. While this is far from the complex circuitry of a sophisticated computer, it is a breakthrough that may alter the current direction of thought.

The possibility of using organic components with enzyme-stimulated responses has some interesting possibilities. Organics and their reactions are known and the material for them is easily available. This doesn’t mean that this technology will be immediately available. An organic based computing system has several drawbacks. For example, living material would be susceptible to “infections” and you can image how a computer virus could be both organic and software based. Then comes the ethical question of animating organic material. If you design organic machines to react to stimuli, where does the line of creation versus builder come into play?

Then of course, there are places where organic material just would not work. The nano-machines that would be a natural by-product of molecular computers would often have uses for which inorganics would be preferable. For many of the medical applications for which nano-machines driven by molecular computers would be designed, organic material would be a risky and unwise choice.

The race to create the molecular computer is not just a race of competing technologies, but an attempt to maximize the efficiency, effectiveness, and usefulness of the computer. The first to successfully create a working molecular computer will also have to be able to create the microscopic nano-machines that will be able to build and repair things at a fundamental level.

They will create a new technology that will change everything from medicine to space exploration. Both technologies hold promise, have limits, and will have a profound impact on every aspect of society. If history is any indicator, the potential of this prospective new technology is beyond measure.

Computers small enough to operate machines that could travel through your bloodstream, repair your body, or monitor the flow of oil in an engine, or fight disease. These are only a few of the possibilities that lay ahead. So what about the race to perfect this technology? On your mark... get set... go!

Free Anti Virus
An Anti Virus (AV) is a must have on your computer especially if you get a lot of attachments with your email and also if you download files and/or copy files from CDs and floppies. If in any way your computer is capable of accruing foreign files, then a virus infection is possible. So, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Get yourself an Anti virus.

There are many free AVs. If you visit freeware sites like download.com, NoNags, Tucows etc. you will find many of them. Numerous AV vendors put out their product first off for free but later stop this practice. The two AV featured here have been free for personal use for more than five years. It will stay that way as it’s a policy of theirs to have a free version including the virus scan signature updates. The two AV are F-prot for DOS and AVG for all versions of Windows.

F-prot - www.f-prot.com. Only the DOS version of the programme is freeware. Make sure you download the DOS version. You don’t have to know DOS to run this program. After downloading and unzipping the file make a directory (eg. F-prot) and run the F-PROT.EXE file. As this is a DOS programme you will have to do all operations manually. You can download the updates from their website. Ideally you need to update one a fortnight at least. The update file names are macrdef2.zip and fp-def.zip. To update, download the files and unzip to the directory you have F-prot.

AVG - www.grisoft.com Works with all versions of Windows. You will need to give a valid email address to download the file and to get the free registration code. One of the best features in AVG is its capability to integrate with most popular email clients and scan for viruses (both incoming and outgoing files). Right clicking in any directory will enable you to scan the directory and its sub directories. One click update will resume support if you get cut off midway through the download and also contain tools and features of most AV.

Sent in by
Sennan Constantine

Improve your computer literacy
PLD - Short for programmable logic device, a generic term for an integrated circuit that can be programmed in a laboratory to perform complex functions. A PLD consists of arrays of ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ gates. A system designer implements a logic design with a device programmer that blows fuses on the PLD to control gate operation.

System designers can use development software that converts basic code into instructions a device programmer needs to implement a design.
PLD types can be classified into the following groups

• PROMs (Programmable Read Only Memory) - offer high speed and low cost for relatively small designs
• PLAs (Programmable Logic Array) - offer flexible features for more complex designs
• PAL/GALs (Programmable Array Logic/Generic Array Logic) - offer good flexibility and are faster and less expensive than PLAs
  

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