Scientists have created the world’s first biological supercomputer which is energy efficient and it hardly heats up at all. It uses proteins instead of electrons to relay information around a circuit. The proteins are powered by adenosine triphosphate (ATP) ,the energy provider to all the cells in a human body. The substance that provides energy to all the cells in our bodies, Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), may also be able to power the next generation of supercomputers. That is what an international team of researchers led by Prof. Nicolau, the Chair of the Department of Bioengineering at McGill, believe.

Instead of the electrons that are propelled by an electrical charge and move around within a traditional microchip, short strings of proteins (which the researchers call biological agents) travel around the circuit in a controlled way, their movements powered by ATP, the chemical that is, in some ways, the juice of life for everything from plants to politicians.

Although the model bio supercomputer was able to very efficiently tackle a complex classical mathematical problem by using parallel computing of the kind used by supercomputers, the researchers recognize that there is still a lot of work ahead to move from the model they have created to a full-scale functional computer.

Did You Know?

• World’s most powerful supercomputer is China’s Tianhe-2.
• The Chinese supercomputer is followed by Titan, a Cray XK7 system installed at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is also the world’s most energy efficient supercomputer.
• Eleven Indian machines have found a place in the latest list of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers, including two in the top 100.