Future computers may be molecular machines: DARPA

Computers of the future may store and process data using the myriad qualities of molecules such as size, shape and colour, instead of relying on a binary number system, US defence researchers say.
As the complexity and volume of global digital data grows, so too does the need for more capable and compact means of processing and storing data.
To address this challenge, The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced its Molecular Informatics program, which seeks a new paradigm for data storage, retrieval and processing.
Instead of relying on the binary digital logic of computers based on the Von Neumann architecture, Molecular Informatics aims to investigate and exploit the wide range of structural characteristics and properties of molecules to encode and manipulate data.

"Chemistry offers a rich set of properties that we may be able to harness for rapid, scalable information storage and processing," said Anne Fischer, programme manager in DARPA's Defence Sciences Office.
"Millions of molecules exist, and each molecule has a unique three-dimensional atomic structure as well as variables such as shape, size, or even colour.

"This richness provides a vast design space for exploring novel and multi-value ways to encode and process data beyond the 0s and 1s of current logic-based, digital architectures," said Fischer.
Molecular storage concepts, such as those based on DNA sequences, have advanced in recent years and show promise for archiving digital data in a format that takes up extremely small physical space, Fischer said.

However, DNA storage does not allow for rapid retrieval and processing of selected portions of the DNA-encoded data without having to first decode the molecule-based data back into an electronic digital format to use with existing information systems.
The primary technical challenge posed by the Molecular Informatics program is the integration of dense storage concepts with processing of molecule-encoded information via completely new, non-binary information structures.
The intent of the programme is to explore such opportunities in the much broader design and encoding space of millions of molecules, which offers far more opportunity than do the four building-block molecules (As, Ts, Cs, and Gs) of DNA.

To achieve its goals, the programme will require a diverse, collaborative community of researchers from fields including chemistry, computer and information science, mathematics, and chemical and electrical engineering.
By addressing mathematical and computational problems that challenge our current capabilities, the Molecular Informatics program aims to discover and define opportunities for the use of molecules in information storage and processing.