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Vanadium oxide bronze: A replacement for silicon in microchips?
The next generation of computers, however, may not rely so much on silicon. University at Buffalo researchers are among scientists working to identify materials that could one day replace silicon to make computing faster. Their latest find: A vanadium oxide bronze whose unusual electrical properties could increase the speed at which information is transferred and stored. In Advanced Functional Materials, the research team reports that they have synthesized nanowires made from vanadium oxide and lead. The reason that these nanowires are so special is that they perform a rare trick: When exposed to an applied voltage near room temperature, the wires transform from insulators that are resistant to carrying electricity to metals that more readily conduct electricity.
Each of these two states—insulator and metal—could stand for a 0 or 1 in the binary code that computers use to encode information, or for the "on" and "off" states that the machines use to make calculations. "The ability to electrically switch these nanomaterials between the on and off state repeatedly and at faster speeds makes them useful for computing," said study co-author Sambandamurthy Ganapathy, a UB associate professors of physics. "Silicon computing technology is running up against some fundamental road blocks, including switching speeds," added Sarbajit Banerjee, another co-author and a UB associate professor of chemistry. "The voltage-induced phase transition in the material we created provides a way to make that switch at a higher speed." As with other nanomaterials, the health and environmental impacts of the nanowires would have to be investigated before their widespread use, especially since they contain lead, Banerjee cautioned. Banerjee and Ganapathy oversaw the study, which appeared online Aug. 17 in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. UB chemistry PhD student Peter Marley was lead author. Other contributors include Peihong Zhang, a UB associate professor of physics, and students from Ganapathy's research group.
When exposed to an applied voltage near room temperature, these nanowires transform from electrical insulators to electrical conductors. Each wire is about 180 nanometers wide. Image by Peter Marley, with color added.
One intriguing characteristic of the material they synthesized is that it only exhibits valuable electrical properties in nano-form. That's because nanomaterials often have fewer defects than their bulkier counterparts, Banerjee and Marley explained. In the case of the lead vanadium oxide nanowires, the wires' distinctive structure is crucial to their ability to switch from an insulator to a metal. Specifically, in the insulator phase, the position of the lead in the nanowires' crystalline structure induces pools of electrons to gather at designated locations. Upon applying a voltage, these pools join together, allowing electricity to flow freely through them all and transforming the material into a metal. "When materials are grown in bulk, there's a lot of defects in the crystals, and you don't see these interesting properties," Marley said. "But when you grow them on a nanoscale, you're left with a more pristine material."
Source: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-vanadium-oxide-bronze-silicon-microchips.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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