On April Fool’s Day, truth is stranger than fiction
1 min read
On April Fool's Day, you survey newspapers, the TV and the web for those less than plausible stories the media runs as part of the tradition. But the 'real world' is often crazier than anything the creative prankster can imagine.
Here's some 'out there' stories which might qualify for April Fool's status, but which are real research topics.
My all time favourite 'crazy idea' was to use the lens from a lobster's eye to focus light more tightly in lithography systems. As I asked then and have asked since, just how did someone arrive at that?
But now a couple of researchers have published work in which they use a slime mould to perform basic computing operations. Once you move beyond the initial amazement, there is some sense to the work.
The slime mould in question is physarum polycephalum, which develops a network of microfluidic tubes as it grows. These tubes respond to changes in light and the mould's environmental surroundings. These properties are said to support the creation of logic blocks.
While the gates created using the mould are slow, they are self repairing and could, say the researchers, form the basis for disposable biocompatible mechanically controlled devices, including bio-inspired robots.
Is this idea any crazier than creating a computer based on the swarming activities of soldier crabs? Believe it or not, that's been tried.
Yes, it's April Fool's Day, but as Mark Twain once remarked 'truth is stranger than fiction'.
