Scientists create palm-sized supercomputers

New research by scientists at Edinburgh University could pave the way for powerful computers small enough to fit into the palm of the hand.

In collaboration with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and the University of Rome, Italy, the Edinburgh University scientists studied the behaviour of wires on a nanoscale - 1,000 times thinner than human hair.

They found that on this scale, wires behave in a different way to bigger wires when they are manipulated.

For example, when scientists tried to bend the nanoscale wires into rings, they took on unusual shapes, presenting a problem with wiring microchips at a smaller scale than those already in production.

The Edinburgh researchers created a computer programme which can help predict when these problems with nanoscale wires will arise, and how these problems can be avoided.

This will improve the effectiveness of wiring in electronic device and enable the further miniaturisation of electronic devices, including computers.

It could facilitate the development of medical advances and hand-help PCs and mobile phones as powerful as today’s laptops.

The results of the research are being published in the journal of Science.