A new kind of memory!

Researchers are always testing new methods to enhance computers. These days, as presented in the Physical Review Letters (Dec 29, 2008), people have been working on phonons. These are heat particules.

There are quite interesting physical properties in regard to phonons. But one thing that we have not been able to do is store phonons. These usually change quickly to the average temperature in their environment. Now, using heavy computations, we have determined that it will be possible to use heat to store data in dynamic memory (RAM) for periods long enough that it won’t make any difference between existing memory models and these.

However, the great news is that the heat generated by your computer can therefore be reused to save data in your computer, also passing a saving in energy! Which is something I find quite good.

But first, we’ll have to play with solid state hard drives. These do not heat much at all, are silent and can last a very long time just like your old good bulking magnetic drive. And since the solid state disks do not have a head, they are very fast for reading data which is what most people do a lot more than anything else.