Accurately predicting the future in emerging technology fields that are constantly evolving is no easy feat. Too much changes too quickly and rare discoveries can become commonplace almost overnight. When we write our annual predictions for government and technology in the Nextgov/FCWwe generally limit our forecast to the next year, which allows for some protection, although it is still very difficult to be consistently accurate.
At the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the scientists and researchers there are tasked with creating or actually defining many aspects of that future. On their main website, they present several high-level topics, such as artificial intelligence, climate change, health and biosciences, cyber security, infrastructure, and quantum computing, which are being actively researched. Asking scientists working on those projects to predict the future of those fields is likely to be quite interesting, which is exactly what NIST officials recently did.
NIST asked some of their postdoctoral researchers, who have completed their doctoral studies but have only recently begun working in one of those aforementioned fields, what they think the future holds. Their answers were interesting and surprising.
A diamond standard in computing
Trey Diulus, a junior fellow at NIST Gaithersburg who works in the Advanced Electronics Group of the Nanoscale Devices and Characterization Division in the Physical Measurement Laboratory, believes that the silicon inside our computing devices will one day be replaced by diamonds.
Diulus explains that the silicon substrate that makes up most computers these days is capable of operating at temperatures up to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. However, silicon’s efficiency starts to decline at around 130 degrees, which is why computers and electronics need things like cooling fans and heatsinks to improve their performance and help them last longer. This can be an even bigger problem in very hot environments like inside the engine compartments of vehicles, many of which are now lined with computer chips.
According to Diulus, a solution to this hot problem could be to replace silicon with material made from diamond, which has no problem working at higher temperatures. Right now it’s physically possible to make a computer using artificial, lab-made diamonds, but the process of embedding circuits in those diamonds is both difficult and expensive, two areas that NIST is studying and trying to simplify .
“Our lab is currently researching ways to treat diamonds using standard lab equipment that most universities and research facilities can access, rather than the current standard of purchasing expensive treated diamond samples from companies,” Diulus said. “In this case, our first goal is to provide laboratories that would otherwise not be able to purchase these expensive samples with a way to prepare their own samples.”
Once that problem is solved, the next step would be to design devices and computers made of diamonds, something Diulus predicts will happen one day in the future.
“I’m very excited to have reliable electronics that won’t break down at the temperatures that silicon does,” said Diulus.
Computers that think like people
Newer generation AIs like ChatGPT are already demonstrating remarkable abilities to solve complex problems, with some even taking on human-like qualities. But they are still limited by having to perform human-like thought processes within complex electronic frameworks, sending data back and forth between computer components such as memory and CPUs.
However, William Borders, a postdoctoral fellow in the Alternative Computing Group in the Physical Measurement Laboratory’s Nanoscale Device Characterization Division, believes the new computer chips will allow AI to process everything right on the chip itself. just like people do inside their brains. . This will make future AIs much more efficient, and also more human-like.
“Our research shows that you can process AI operations in the chip’s own memory, without having to move information around,” Borders said. “We are investigating how a new device, known as a magnetic tunnel junction, can help demonstrate the effectiveness of new computing approaches that can keep up with the demands of AI by allowing computer memory to operate in data as a neural network.”
In addition to making AI processing more energy efficient, having an AI on a single chip would be ideal for things like planetary exploration where energy and space are limited in unmanned robotic vehicles.
Artificial antibodies will protect people from disease
Our bodies have a powerful series of defenses known as antibodies that are designed to locate and destroy invading diseases. They do a great job, but can sometimes be overwhelmed by some bodily invaders like COVID-19 or the flu. But Melinda Kleczynski, a postdoctoral researcher with NIST’s Mathematical Analysis and Modeling Group, predicts that one day we may be able to design artificial antibodies that can be injected into humans to provide them with an extra layer of protection designed specifically for alleviate any disease. touching them.
“My colleagues and I are working to help the biomedical community understand the full range of shapes and motions an antibody can have,” Kleczynski said. “Although you already have antibodies in your body, we are working with a family of artificial antibodies that can be introduced into the body through injected drugs, known as monoclonal antibodies.”
Kleczynski and her colleagues are using mathematical models and simulations to measure the antibodies and also to test how effective they or their artificial counterparts might be in terms of treatments.
“I am excited to see how our research helps promote a better understanding of the changing structure of antibodies,” said Kleczynski. “We hope our work will promote safety and innovation in future drug development.”
The quantum question
In terms of cutting-edge science, almost nothing has more potential than quantum computing. But we are still at the beginning of understanding how it all works. This is probably why Dr. Akash V. Dixit, an experimental physicist in the Advanced Microwave Photonics group at NIST Boulder, doesn’t really have a specific prediction for what comes next in quantum. However, with quantum computers slowly becoming more powerful and increasingly going mainstream, he says we’ll soon see the power of quantum computers and technology used in new areas where it can really make a difference.
“In the near future, I’m excited by all the ways quantum technology will be used in areas it wasn’t originally developed for,” said Dixit. “For example, in addition to building quantum computers, the same quantum technology is being used to search the cosmos for invisible ‘dark’ matter, measure gravitational waves, and develop better space-based cameras for the study of the early universe.”
John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and columnist with over 20 years of experience in the technology field. He is the CEO of Bureau of Technical Writersa group that creates thought-leading technology content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys