|Wesley R. Elsberry
Joined: May 2002
Yeast Protein Could Make New Chip Material
|A misfolded yeast protein, used to conduct electricity, could produce dramatically smaller computer chips and more powerful sensors, researchers reported Friday. |
The protein, about 1 millimeter long but only a few nanometers -- or billionths of a meter -- thick, which was coated with gold as the conducting medium, was chosen because it could produce exceptionally durable electronic components, the researchers said.
"We can imagine circuits in computers that are an order of magnitude smaller than they are now, using this technology," Susan Lindquist, director of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., told United Press International.
"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker