McMaster researchers have developed a simple and highly novel form of computing by shining patterned bands of light and shadow through different facets of a polymer cube and reading the combined results that emerge.
The material in the cube reads and reacts intuitively to the light in much the same way a plant would turn to the sun, or a cuttlefish would change the color of its skin.
The researchers are graduate students in chemistry supervised by Kalaichelvi Saravanamuttu, an associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology whose lab focuses on ideas inspired by natural biological systems.
The researchers were able to use their new process to perform simple addition and subtraction questions.
Additional reporting: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10166-4
Math via chemical reaction.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 26 2019, @09:53AM (1 child)
It sounds like Optalysys.
https://www.hpcwire.com/2014/08/06/exascale-breakthrough-weve-waiting/ [hpcwire.com]
https://www.hpcwire.com/2019/03/07/optalysys-rolls-commercial-optical-processor/ [hpcwire.com]
Still waiting for a desktop version.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sgleysti on Sunday May 26 2019, @08:09PM
Cool, thanks for that link.
This reminds me of the supercomputer in the short story "Luminous" by Greg Egan.
https://www.gregegan.net/BIBLIOGRAPHY/Bibliography.html#p49 [gregegan.net]
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @11:20AM (1 child)
Sounds much like how SoylentNews Eds calculate the probability of aristarchus submissions being accepted. Shine on, you crazy diamonds! (Pink Floyd for you younglings, "Welcome to the Machine!")
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday May 27 2019, @06:58AM
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/05/26/1239258 [soylentnews.org]
You were saying?
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 26 2019, @03:10PM
You can choose traditional Raspberry Pi, Kiwi Lime, Melon Fusion,
Oh, found a cool link about Jell-O - https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/vintage-jello-flavors/ [tasteofhome.com] How about some Italian Salad Jell-O? Or, Italian Salad Computer?
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @06:07PM (1 child)
My first thought is isn't this the same as an FPGA, just implemented with different materials? Feed input into one side, read output on the other. Will be nice to see if any use cases come out of this though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @07:58PM
OH, yeah? How much intuition does an FPGA have?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @09:53PM
A new approach.