Meeting notice: 07-07-98 7:30 NE43-773 (545 Tech Sq.)

Suggested topics:

1) In the 12 June issue of _Science_ James R. Heath and
others published an exceptionally interesting article
on defect-tolerant computer architectures.

Abstract:

     Teramac is a massively parallel experimental
     computer built at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
     to investigate a wide range of different
     computational architectures. This machine
     contains about 220,000 hardware defects, any
     one of which could prove fatal to a
     conventional computer, and yet it operated 100
     times faster than a high-end single-processor
     workstation for some of its configurations. The
     defect-tolerant architecture of Teramac, which
     incorporates a high communication bandwith that
     enables it to easily route around defects, has
     significant implications for any future
     nanometer-scale computational paradigm. It may
     be feasible to chemically synthesize individual
     electronic components with less than a 100
     percent yield, assemble them into systems with
     appreciable uncertainty in their connectivity,
     and still create a powerful and reliable data
     communications network. Future nanoscale
     computers may consist of extremely
     large-configuration memories that are
     programmed for specific tasks by a tutor that
     locates and tags the defects in the system.

Highly recommended.  One of the more important NT-
related articles to appear this year. I will bring
a few copies to the meeting.

2) As we gain more command over smaller amounts of
time, space, and matter, life becomes more complex;
systems science teaches us that as the complexity of a
system grows state moves to the end nodes.  (In the
context of this example, humans get more choices.)

Often this is good; sometimes a cautionary tale
appears.  An example of the latter is the recent
emergence on the market of teleoperated sniper rifles.
Extended comments on this development plus an
exceptionally ignorant treatment of the topic by the
media can be found at http://world.std.com/~fhapgood/rifle.

Nanonews:
       
Nanoscale Electrochemistry - a tool for forming
structures of almost atomic dimensions. The deposition
of nanometer-sized clusters and the local etching of a
metal surface have been achieved by applying ultrashort
voltage pulses in an electrochemical scanning tunneling
microscope at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max
Planck Society, Berlin (Physical Review Letters 80,
5599 (1998)). http://www.mpg.de/news12.htm

Interest in "smart" materials that can sense and
respond to changes in their environment has increased
with new advances in the 20-year-old science.
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/acs-iiismir.html


Announcement Archive:

http://world.std.com/~fhapgood/nsgpage.html.

Warning: For Internal use only.


hapgood@pobox.com