Studying algae to speed up computers?

A press release came out today stating that a research team led by Michael Sussman, a University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemistry professor and director of the UW-Madison’s Biotechnology Center, discovered which genes are used by diatoms - unicellular algae - to encase themselves in intricately patterned, glass-like shells made of silica.

According to the press release, silica is closely related to the silicon we use to create computer chips today, and diatoms are able to create patterns much smaller than current chip manufacturers are capable of.

Over the past 30 years, chip manufacturers have continued to increase processor speed by "using photolithographic techniques for the past 30 years," explains Sussman. "But they are actually hitting a wall now because they’re getting down to the resolution of visible light."

Using DNA chips designed by some of the researchers involved, they were able to pinpoint which genes in the diatoms were used to create the actual silica shells, and now believe that they can manipulate these genes to begin drastically enhancing the speed of processors used in computers.

Though it may be few years before this new technology hits the streets and begins to affect you and I, it is still a vastly interesting leap in what seems to be an era of scientific breakthroughs.

Read the press release here.