Communications of the ACM
Scientists Demo Physical Design of Non-Deterministic niversal Turing Machine
Researchers say it is possible to physically create a non-deterministic universal Turing machine using DNA molecules.
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Researchers from The University of Manchester have shown that it is possible to build a new super-fast form of computer that "grows as it computes."
Professor Ross D. King and his team have demonstrated the feasibility of engineering a non-deterministic universal Turing machine (NUTM). They describe their research in "Computing Exponentially Faster: Implementing a Non-Deterministic Universal Turing Machine Using DNA," published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
The theoretical properties of such a computing machine, including its exponential boost in speed over electronic and quantum computers, have been well understood for many years — but the Manchester breakthrough demonstrates that it is actually possible to physically create a NUTM using DNA molecules.
"Imagine a computer is searching a maze and comes to a choice point, one path leading left, the other right," says Professor King, from Manchester's School of Computer Science. "Electronic computers need to choose which path to follow first.
"But our new computer doesn't need to choose, for it can replicate itself and follow both paths at the same time, thus finding the answer faster. This 'magical' property is possible because the computer's processors are made of DNA rather than silicon chips," King says. "All electronic computers have a fixed number of chips.
"Quantum computers are an exciting other form of computer, and they can also follow both paths in a maze, but only if the maze has certain symmetries, which greatly limits their use," he says. "As DNA molecules are very small a desktop computer could potentially utilize more processors than all the electronic computers in the world combined — and therefore outperform the world's current fastest supercomputer, while consuming a tiny fraction of its energy."
The University of Manchester is famous for its connection with Alan Turing — a pioneer of computer science — and for creating the first stored memory electronic computer.
"This new research builds on both these pioneering foundations," King says.
Alan Turing's greatest achievement was inventing the concept of a universal Turing machine (UTM) — a computer that can be programmed to compute anything any other computer can compute. Electronic computers are a form of UTM, but no quantum UTM has yet been built.
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