Molecular Device Reconfigured for Computational Tasks

Intriguing direction.  How many such computational tasks? 

Molecular Device Can Be Reconfigured for Different Computational Tasks, By Texas A&M University, September 9, 2021  in CACM.

An international team of researchers has described a novel molecular device with exceptional computing prowess. 

The device can be reconfigured on the fly for different computational tasks by simply changing applied voltages. The same device can also retain information for future retrieval and processing.

It is described in "Decision Trees Within a Molecular Memristor,"   published in the journal Nature.

"We have now created a molecular device with dramatic reconfigurability, which is achieved not by changing physical connections like in the brain, but by reprogramming its logic," says R. Stanley Williams, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University.

The molecular device might in the future help design next-generation processing chips with enhanced computational power and speed, but consuming significantly reduced energy, says Thirumalai Venkatesan, director of the Center for Quantum Research and Technology at the University of Oklahoma, and adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore.

From Texas A&M University, View Full Article