Nano-Walker

The pace of progress does indeed seem to be moving more rapidly. First nano-trucks and now nanowalkers. An obvious application for this research didn't strike me but the researchers had this to say-

“This offers an easy realization of a concept for molecular computing proposed by IBM in the 1990s, in which every number is encoded by the position of molecules along a line similar to an abacus, but about 10 million times smaller. IBM abandoned this concept, partly because there was no way to manufacture the bars of the abacus at molecule-sized spacing.

“DTA does not need any bars to move in a straight line and, hence, would allow a much simpler way of creating such molecular memory, which would be more than 1000 times more compact than current devices.”

Just goes to show what I know!

A great primer on nanotechnology, with a great deal of specualtion on the benefits this sciene could bring us, can be found in Eric Drexler's book Engines of Creation. Well worth reading for an insight into the utterly astounding changes that nanotech will make.