University Researchers Whip Up Mushy, Jello-Like Memory Device

Posted 07/15/2011 at 11:47am | by Brad Chacos

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What do you think about when the term "memory device" gets tossed around? Kingston DRAM and Corsair’s 16GB DDR3/1600 Vengeance kit in the 2011 Dream Machine pops into our head. Now, sadly, we're going to have pictures of Bill Cosby's wrinkled, funny face dancing around in our skulls whenever memory springs to mind. Curse you, NC State researchers! A team from the University created a new type of memory designed to work in soggy situations, and the chip's reminiscent of everybody's favorite animal-based desert.

“We’ve created a memory device with the physical properties of Jell-O,” Dr. Michael Dickey said. How'd they do that? By using "a liquid alloy of gallium and indium metals set into water-based gels." Rather than being hard and brittle like standard electronic components, the new memory devices are soft, mushy and perfect for use in wet environments. If you want to learn the hard details of how it works, be sure to check out the press release.

What does the team hope to achieve with the new technology? Something that would fit into Bioshock? Not quite. "These properties may be used for biological sensors or for medical monitoring," Dickey said. The researchers envision the mushy memory eventually being used in the human body, acting as an interface for electronics to communicate with cells or tissues. And since the Jell-O memory device doesn't mind moist environments, it could more easily be inserted into the moist lump of organics known as the human brain.

Image credit: NC State University. Thanks to Engadget for pointing this out!