The idea of mixing water and electronic components is a bit worrying, but we already know specific coexistence cases such as liquid cooling. Even so, what we have here today is very different. At Stanford University, a group of professors and students created a computer based on the concept of moving small water drops, a development that does not seek to compete with traditional computers, but rather to manipulate matter with precision.
I have seen all kinds of devices annihilated by humidity. There is always the desperate caller describing the "decision" of a smartphone to pursue a diving career, or the keyboard that requested early retirement because of a cup of tea defying gravity. In other words, we have very good reasons to keep our electronic gadgets away from water, but there are some exceptions. Liquid cooling systems are well known among hardware enthusiasts, and we have even come across systems bathed in fluids like oil. However, this new development from Stanford University does not use water to destroy or cool electronics, but rather to make it part of its logic.
In theory, this water-drop computer can perform any operation just like a conventional system, as long as we set aside the detail of speed. Professor Manu Prakash explains that the goal of the project is not to compete with typical computers, since they do an excellent job processing information. The plan is to control and manipulate what Prakash describes as "physical matter" (I imagine he is talking about things larger than an electron, otherwise it would be redundant), and he gives as an example a platform that would not only be capable of processing data, but also of manipulating matter in an algorithmic way. The key to this development is a rotating magnetic field, basically a "magnetic clock", combined with a series of small iron bars. Each of the injected water drops contains tiny magnetic particles, thus generating a behavior similar to that of a ferrofluid. When the magnetic field is reversed, the same happens with the polarity of the bars, allowing the direction of the drops to be altered at will. The presence and absence of a drop is interpreted as 1 and 0, and the magnetic clock ensures the correct movement of each one with absolute synchronization.
The university assures that the system could be reproduced on a much smaller scale. The magnetic field has the ability to control millions of drops at the same time, which translates into a greater number of operations per second. As for direct applications, Professor Prakash believes it would be possible to use each of the drops as "miniature test tubes", loaded with chemicals to carry out much more precise reactions. The best part is that the team announced the intention to open its designs to the public, so any interested party will be able to shape their own circuits.
