chips can shrink. The number of transistors that can be packed into integrated circuits doubles every two years, according to Moore’s Law. But as we approach the nano scale, quantum effects are beginning to intrude and heat dissipation is a very significant problem.
Till Korten at the Dresden University of Technology18 has built a biocomputer that uses 10,000 times less energy than a silicon one. An etched glass chip is flooded with a type of biological motor protein called kinesins, along with some microtubules that provide the inner scaffolding of cells. This biocomputer can solve multivariate optimization problems 128 times faster than previously, although it may take many years to commercialize. Maybe it’s no surprise that these biocomponents, honed by a billion years of evolution, are so efficient.
A second example of fusion is the use of biological DNA for encryption.