toneii
- Science
HP Discovers Potential "God Particle" of Electronics
Silicon Valley is mostly a world of practical technology—applying principles from pure science to create handy gadgets. But today, Hewlett Packard announced a new electrical component born of theoretical physics. The device, a nanoscale component called a "memristor," requires no power to retain data, which it can store more densely than a hard drive and access about as fast as a computers RAM memory—potentially allowing it to replace both components in the future.
4.30.2008 at 04:57pm - Comment by toneii"Running a positive charge through the electrode above this layer pushes some of the charged bubbles into the lower layer (where they stay, until another charge is applied), allowing it to conduct electricity and lowering the electrical resistance of the entire cell. A computer can read information in a memristor cell by measuring how much resistance it has." So it sounds like you set the state or value with the charge on the upper layer and read the value with a charge on the lower layer.
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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