A Tiny Machine: Infinitesimal Computing Device

In today's world people are always trying to make technology smaller, faster, and more powerful. Electrical and computer engineers at the University of California Santa Barbara have created a nanoscale device that does functional computing. The idea of having nanosized computing came about from a physicist in 1959 who spoke of a future in which tiny machines could carry out large tasks. The device created by engineers uses a dense 3-D circuit that could theoretically fit in the a block no bigger than 50 nanometers. The small devices processes data within a 3-D memory structure . This allows more data to be stored and the data to be processes much quicker. The key to the nanoscale device are meristors. Memristors are circuit elements that change resistance depending on the most recent charges, and the direction of the charges that have flowed through them. By also having logic operation and information storage happen at the same time the need for certain componenets is much less, saving lots of wasted space.

I found this article interesting as I always like to see that the world of technology is getting more and more advanced. To think that there could be operations being done at the nanoscale is crazy to me. I also found the idea that logic operation and information storage were happening at the same time to be particularly interesting. As we learned in class through control flow the logic operation, and information storage typically happen seperately. I wonder how it is possible to have the two happen simulatenously. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161028162049.htm

Ultra-Thin Ferroelectric material for next-generation electronics

Hiorishi Funakubo and other researchers at the Tokyo Institue of Technology have determined ferroelectric properties necessary for halfnium oxide. Halfnium oxide can be split into tiny deposits, meaning that it could be the future of technology. The base of ferroelectric properties are based around the crystal like structure that the element creates. For halfnium oxide researchers knew that an orthorhombic crystal structre would be necessary for halfnium oxide to posess ferroelectric properties. When researching the halfnium oxide the researchers tested for spontaneous polarization and the Curie temperature of compound. The Curie temperature is the temperature at which the compound will stop being ferroelectric because of restructuing of the crystal. The resarchers found that one of the epitaxala films in the compound had a Curie temperature of 450 degrees Celcius. This Curie temperature gives the compound halfnium oxide the potential to be in use for functions of future technology. Ferroelectric materials are unique because their polarization can be reversed by an external electric field. Halnium oxide is unique compared to the other ferroelectric materials tha have been found, because of how small the crystals can be and still posess the properties.

I found this article intersting as in modern day researchers and developers are constantly on the quest to make devices and other computing objects smaller and thinner. When thinking of this I had never thought that it had anything to do with the compounds being used inside the devices. I would always think that the companies simply jsut saved space within the device through efficient design. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161012134011.htm

Robotic Agriculture

In today's agirculture world almost every farmer uses robotics to improve the efficiency of farming. Within the farming culture it is commonly accepted that bigger more powerful machines are better. It is believed that robotics will eventually completely take over the farming industry. The first step to this becoming true is that tractors will become fully automonous. Tractors and farming equipment are at the forefront for development and automonous navigation technology. In fact these carse use similar technologies to those being implemented in the self driving cars. Rather than driving the tractors the operators can simply supervise the machines and have multiple tractors going at once. The robots who do the work will also become much smaller and slower in fact. By making the machines smaller there will be less soil compaction during operation with creates a better growing enviroment for the crops. The smaller machines will inturn created a slower turnover of crop, but studies have shown that having more crops, but slower harvesting is better for the farmer. Being that there will be an advancement in technology the operators will have to be more technology smart. This will mean that the service providers will have to have a stronger sense of the technology they are working with. Although most of these changes have not happend, the technological advancements that already have happend ahve caused a decrease in agricultural jobs. However, these changes are potentiall revloutionary and could be evolutionary.

I found this article important as we can see technological advances in aspects of life. It bring me to think with robotics taking over what will happen to all the people who need these jobs. Will other jobs open up for those who don't have knowledge in computer science?

https://www.computer.org/web/idtechex-emerging-technologies/content?g=54174376&type=article&urlTitle=robotic-agriculture-the-battle-between-the-big-and-the-small-part-1