Canadian scientists have created a biological supercomputer that can process information very quickly and accurately using parallel networks just like massive electronic supercomputers do.

According to reports the supercomputer is a whole lot smaller than current supercomputers, burns much less energy, and uses proteins present in all living cells to function.

The model of bio supercomputer was created by an international team of researchers led by professor Dan Nicolau from Canada’s McGill University.

According to professor Nicolau, he began working on the idea with his son, Dan Jr., more than a decade ago and was then joined by colleagues from Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, some seven years ago.

“This started as a back of an envelope idea, after too much rum I think, with drawings of what looked like small worms exploring mazes,” he said.

The model bio-supercomputer uses a combination of geometrical modelling and engineering knowhow on the nano scale. Its circuit looks a bit like a road map of a busy and very organised city as seen from a plane.

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 are powered by ATP, the chemical that is regarded as the juice of life of every living thing.

The model bio supercomputer is not only small, just about the same size as a book, but also uses the same mathematical capabilities as conventional, giant-sized supercomputers.

In addition, it is very energy-efficient and doesn’t overheat like its non-biological counterparts, making it more sustainable.

The researchers believe a more complete version may be on the cards, with the help of hybridization technology.

“One option for dealing with larger and more complex problems may be to combine our device with a conventional computer to form a hybrid device. Right now we’re working on a variety of ways to push the research further,” Nicolai said.

A team of scientists has developed a way to chemically store solar energy. The team designed a photo-electrochemical cell that does this amazing feat even at high temperatures.

There are numerous ways of storing energy from the sun. Plants naturally can absorb sunlight and store its energy chemically.

However, imitating this on a large industrial scale is difficult. Photovoltaics on the other hand can convert the energy from sunlight to electricity, but the efficiency of the solar cells at high temperatures decreases.

The researchers from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) were able to solve this problem by combining high temperature photovoltaics with an electrochemical cell. This allows ultraviolet light to be directly used to pump oxygen ions through a solid oxide electrolyte and the energy of the UV light is stored chemically.

“This would allow us to concentrate sunlight with mirrors and build large-scale plants with a high rate of efficiency”, said Georg Brunauer a member of the team.

The team managed to assemble a cell by using special metal oxides – so-called perovskites – instead of the ordinary silicon based photovoltaics.

“Our cell consists of two different parts – a photoelectric part on top and an electrochemical part below. In the upper layer, ultraviolet light creates free charge carriers, just like in a standard solar cell,” he added.

The electrons in this layer are immediately removed and travel to the bottom layer of the electrochemical cell.

Once there, these electrons are used to ionize oxygen to negative oxygen ions, which can then travel through a membrane in the electrochemical part of the cell.

“This is the crucial photoelectrochemical step, which we hope will lead to the possibility of splitting water and producing hydrogen,” Brunauer noted.

In its first evolution step, the photoelectrochemical cell works as a UV-light driven oxygen pump. It yields an open-current voltage of up to 920 millivolts at a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.

The cell was recently presented in the Advanced Functional Materials journal. It looks promising and will solve a lot of energy problems if perfected.