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Superman's memory crystals may become reality in computers (rewritable crystals?)
Telegraph ^ | 08/14/11 | Richard Gray

Posted on 08/20/2011 8:48:14 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

Superman's memory crystals may become reality in computers

Computers may soon be saving their data onto hard drives made of glass following research by British scientists who have developed a way of storing information similar to the "memory crystals" seen in the Superman films.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

9:45AM BST 14 Aug 2011

Researchers at Southampton University used lasers to rearrange the atoms in pieces of glass, turning it into new type of computer memory.

They claim the glass memory is far more stable and resilient than current types of hard-drive memory, which have a limited lifespan of a couple of decades and are vulnerable to damage from high temperatures and moisture.

The glass memory can withstand temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees F, is unaffected by water and can last for thousands of years without losing information.

Information can be written, wiped and rewritten into the molecular structure of the glass using a laser, the scientists claim.

The process changes the way light travels through the glass, creating whirlpools of polarised light that can then be read in much the same way as data in optical fibres.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Technical
KEYWORDS: crystal; harddrive; laser; storage; stringtheory
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I have always wondered about how long our current knowledge will be preserved in the future. Would most of it be lost in time, as happened numerously in history.

Pyramids have stood for thousands of years, but knowledge and information had no equivalent so far. Maybe this may change it if it is indeed the real deal. Of course, we need to set it to read-only mode.

1 posted on 08/20/2011 8:48:17 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Also probably EMP resistant..


2 posted on 08/20/2011 8:53:03 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole...)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
...and can last for thousands of years without losing information.

How did they confirm this? ;-P

3 posted on 08/20/2011 8:54:15 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOs!!!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster; SunkenCiv
I have always wondered about how long our current knowledge will be preserved in the future. Would most of it be lost in time, as happened numerously in history.

Hey SunkenCiv,

This thread is pertinent to your interests.

4 posted on 08/20/2011 8:57:43 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOs!!!)
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To: Grizzled Bear

>How did they confirm this?

The same way they figured out that global warming will kill mankind in the next 5 years....5 years ago.


5 posted on 08/20/2011 8:59:22 PM PDT by max americana (FUBO NATION 2012 FK BARAK)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

What happens if someone drops it...WHOOPS?!


6 posted on 08/20/2011 9:01:04 PM PDT by prisoner6 (Right Wing Nuts bolt The Constitution together as the loose screws of the Left fall out!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

bump.


7 posted on 08/20/2011 9:03:18 PM PDT by ken21 (ruling class dem + rino progressives -- destroying america for 150 years.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer....

true


8 posted on 08/20/2011 9:05:23 PM PDT by No!
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Yes, but can it withstand being thrown at an iceberg at the North Pole and pop up with a hologram of Brando?


9 posted on 08/20/2011 9:06:13 PM PDT by lurk
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To: Grizzled Bear
...and can last for thousands of years without losing information.

I think that we'll find a way to preserve information. But what is really in more jeopardy is human life as we know it. Humans are fragile creatures. We will likely be extinct at some point while our "information" lives on. Perhaps for other inelligent creatures that emerge millions of years from now.

10 posted on 08/20/2011 9:06:52 PM PDT by ExtremeUnction
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I hwve heard that only about 5% of the materials in the great Alexandria library have come down to us. Among those lost are the dialogues of Aristotle. More to the point, more than half the old movies are already gone. Not much reason to think that they in their present formats will be available in a while.


11 posted on 08/20/2011 9:11:10 PM PDT by RobbyS (Pray with the suffering souls.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster; All
Are we getting close to where we once were? ;o)

Excerpt: “Record Keeper quartz crystals have tiny triangular shapes embedded or raised on the surface. Sometimes there’s just one and sometimes the crystal is covered with them. Some are outlined with repetitive shapes making a chevron pattern. Just as the name implies, record keepers store ancient wisdom. “

http://www.fossilcartel.com/blog/2010/04/self-healed-and-record-keeper-quartz-crystals/

I have seen many natural crystals with these triangular chevron shapes - very hard to see. Most people never do as you must look for them. They are on the facets that make up the point - to be seen, you must angle the surface to light just right. They are barely discernible, but they are there on may natural crystals.

our radios started out with cystals.

All fascinating.

12 posted on 08/20/2011 9:13:31 PM PDT by maine-iac7 (ALWAYS WATCH THE OTHER HAND)
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To: ExtremeUnction

According to the evolutionists, intelligence is just an acciderntal thing. Maybe not?


13 posted on 08/20/2011 9:15:08 PM PDT by RobbyS (Pray with the suffering souls.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I have always wondered about how long our current knowledge will be preserved in the future. Would most of it be lost in time, as happened numerously in history.

I'm with you.

I've recently taken an interest in the Roman Republic/Empire and those guys had no shortage of scribes, poets, bureaucrats, secretaries, shorthand....you name it, they wrote it down.

But they wrote much of it on wax tablets and then you have fire, earthquakes, political re-writing/wholesale erasures etc. and, of course, just the general mindless destruction by the Vandals and other invaders.

It's funny when you find out that the best source for Caesar is Caesar himself from his war dispatches (that he later collected into a book that became a Roman bestseller).

That man knew how to promote himself!

14 posted on 08/20/2011 9:19:40 PM PDT by eddie willers
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Just do not get the crystals excited.


15 posted on 08/20/2011 9:24:21 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
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To: RobbyS; TigerLikesRooster
I hwve heard that only about 5% of the materials in the great Alexandria library have come down to us.

Of course. That's because the Moslems sacked the city and burned the library. That's another way they've "enriched our culture."

16 posted on 08/20/2011 9:28:33 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOs!!!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Are the crystals blue?

17 posted on 08/20/2011 9:32:31 PM PDT by I see my hands (Keep your sunny side up!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
The glass memory can withstand temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees F, is unaffected by water and can last for thousands of years without losing information.

And we thought the Rosetta Stone was hard to crack! We'd better hope our civilization survives because I don't really see any post-apocalyptic monkey-man descendants of ours kicking up a chunk of crystal memory in the ancient rubble of New York City and saying to his buddy, "Hey, Og, let's see if we can find a message from our ancient ancestors stored at the molecular level in this piece of glass."

18 posted on 08/20/2011 9:41:38 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: maine-iac7
our radios started out with cystals.

The computer you are using would not work, without a crystal. It provides the timing signal that is necessary for the hardware and software to work.

19 posted on 08/20/2011 9:51:09 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
If they can make this practical and capable of storing 512 GB on a solid-state drive (SSD) about the size of a Type III Compact Flash card, you KNOW Apple would want it for the next generation of MacBook Pro laptops.
20 posted on 08/20/2011 10:15:59 PM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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