Unit 6

29: Current and Emerging Trends

1. Ar%ficial intelligence
2. DNA compu%ng
3. Nanotechnology
4. Quantum compu%ng

1. Ar(ficial intelligence

The ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly

associated with intelligent beings

Machine learning
▪ They could learn new things without having their rewriAen by a human

There are many uses in medicine such as:

1. Digital consulta%ons
2. Analyzing test results
3. Health monitoring

There are also many uses in everyday life:

1. Amazon recommends a book to you, or NeIlix suggest a film or TV show
2. Virtual assistants such as Siri and Cortana find the informa%on and return the
answers to your advice
3. When flying an Airbus, the plane uses combina%on of mo%on sensors and GPS to
track their posi%on in flight
4. Financial companies oTen use AI to monitor transac%on requests

The algorithms learn from your needs, using them to suggest other things you might enjoy.
AI lies behind those algorithms.

2. DNA Compu(ng
The performing of computa%ons using biological molecules, rather than tradi%onal silicon
chips.

▪ Like modern storage devices, DNA is digital, but it is not binary

▪ Binary encoding uses two bits (0 and 1)
▪ But DNA uses four possible bits named
▫ adenine ( A ),
▫ thymine ( T ),
▫ guanine ( G ) and
▫ cytosine ( C ) aTer their chemical structure

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DNA computers have many advantages over silicon-based ones, such as:
▪ There are will always be a supply of DNA (as long as there are cellular organisms)
▪ The large supply of DNA makes it a cheap resource
▪ DNA biochips can be made cleanly, unlike the toxic materials used to make
tradi%onal microprocessors
▪ DNA computers are many %mes smaller than today’s computers

Disadvantages
▪ all possible solu%ons were generated immediately,
▪ it took several days for the scien%st to analyse the combina%ons to find the correct
one
▪ this DNA computer was that also required human assistance
Advantages
▪ Research into using DNA as a data storage medium has been more successful
▪ It is seen as the storage medium of the future
▪ It has many advantages, such as size and the fact it can survive is cool, dry
environment for hundreds of thousands of years

Ac(vity 6
How can a DNA code have 64 possible values?
Answer:
▪ There are 4 code leAers: A, T, G and C.
▪ Each codon consists of 3 of them.
▪ Therefore, there are 43 = 64 possibili%es.

3. Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the manipula%on of maAer with a size of from 1 to 100 nanometer (nm).
One nanometer is 1 millionth (10-9) of a meter.

Transistor size
▪ Make more powerful processors is by increasing the number of transistors that they
contain have gradually reduced the size of transistors
▪ Today Intel@ are producing transistors that are 14 nm (14x10-9) in width
▪ An intel dualcore@ i7 processor contains 1.75 billion transistors with a transistor
density of 17.18 transistors per square millimeter

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Carbon nanotubes
▫ Below 7 nm it may not be technically possible to produce transistors using silicon
▫ This is because of problems when the transistors are so close together
▪ Scien%sts are experimen%ng with carbon nanotubes, which are cylinders of carbon
atoms with walls one molecule thick
▪ Processors using carbon nanotube transistors could be five %mes faster and use less
energy than silicon chips

Nanotechnology is being used in a variety of areas:

1. Self-cleaning glass
2. Clothing: beAer protec%on from UV light
3. Scratch-resistant coa%ngs: resistance to chipping and scratches
4. Medicine: can be delivered directly to the tumour using white blood cells

Ac(vity 17
Create a poster illustra%ng the uses of nanotechnology in the modern world.
1. Self-cleaning glass
2. Clothing
3. Scratch-resistant coa%ngs
4. Medicine

5. sunscreen: blocking UV radia%on, lighter on the skin

6. tennis balls: keep their bounce for longer, and make tennis racquets stronger
7. computers: %ny computer processors

4. Quantum Compu(ng
Quantum compu%ng is a rapidly-emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum
mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.

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 ▪ Classical computers use bits, a bit can be 1 or 0
▪ Quantum computers use qubits
▪ Qubits are subatomic par%cles, such as electrons or photons
▪ To generate qubits, IBM and Google researchers use superconduc%ng circuits cooled
to temperatures colder than deep space
▪ Using microwave lasers, the qubits can be put into superposi%on – they exist in
mul%ple states. So, a qubit can be 1 and 0 at the same %me
▪ This allows quantum computers to carry out calcula%ons and crunch through a vast
number of poten%al outcomes simultaneously

Two quantum phenomena

1. Superposi%on
2. Entanglement

Superposi(on
This is the idea that an object can have all possible states, un%l its state has been measured.
OR
Qubits can represent numerous possible combina%ons of 1 and 0 at the same %me. This ability
to simultaneously be in mul%ple states is called superposi%on.

Example
▪ We could use four bits to try and crack a password which has 16 possible solu%ons
▪ The four bits can be arranged in 16 possible combina%ons and each one can be tried
at a %me
▪ Each quantum bit is both 1 and 0 and so they can represent all the 16 possible solu%ons
at the same %me
▪ The four qubits have all the wrong answers and the right answer at the same %me
▪ Instead of trying them one at a %me, they are all tried at once

Entanglement
Each of a pair of qubits exist in a single quantum state and they can influence each other.
Changing the state of one of the qubits will immediately change the state of the other.
This can happen over huge distances.
▪ Quantum entanglement is when two par%cles link together in a certain way no maAer
how far apart they are in space.
Entanglement Advantages
▪ it provides at the same %me the basis of novel communica%on protocols, which allow
efficient communica%on and computa%on beyond the capabili%es of their classical
counterparts
▪ in a quantum computer, entangled qubits produce an exponen%al increase in its
compu%ng power
▪ it enables certain tasks to be performed much faster than in classical compu%ng
How do two par(cles become entangled?
▪ Entanglement occurs when a pair of par%cles, such as photons, interact physically. A
laser beam fired through a certain type of crystal can cause individual photons to be
split into pairs of entangled photons. The photons can be separated by a large distance,
hundreds of miles or even more.

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How much faster is quantum entanglement?
▪ Quantum entanglement transfers informa%on at around 3-trillion meters per second.

Quantum compu(ng is s(ll in its infancy but is being used today.

For example:
▪ to simulate the chemical composi%on of electrical vehicle baAeries to improve their
performance
▪ Pharmaceu%cal companies are using it to analyse and compare chemical compounds
that could lead to the crea%on of new drugs
▪ Quantum computers can be used to create models to find op%mal condi%ons. Airbus
is using them to help calculate the most fuel-efficient ascent and descent paths for
aircraT
▪ Another possible use is in op%mizing traffic flow in a future city. A central quantum
computer could imagine all possible solu%ons to traffic flow immediately, controlling
traffic lights and sending driverless cars along different routes to stop conges%on. But
that is going to take quite a while

Ac(vity 18
In pairs, create a presenta%on explaining why quantum computers can solve complex
problems more easily than classical ones.

Searching unstructured databases: Quantum computers can search unstructured databases

exponen%ally faster than classical computers, making it a poten%al solu%on for problems such
as drug discovery or logis%cs op%miza%on.
Factoring large integers: Quantum computers can factor large integers exponen%ally faster
than classical computers.
Machine Learning: Some machine learning algorithms can be implemented more efficiently
on quantum computers

Checkpoints
S1. What is meant by ar%ficial intelligence (AI)?
▪ The ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks
commonly associated with intelligent beings. Intelligent beings are those that can
adapt to changing circumstances.

S2. Why is DNA suitable for storing data?

▪ Because DNA consists of 4 digits which are arranged in groups of 3, it can encode
informa%on represented by the bits and bytes of computer systems.

S3. What is meant by nanotechnology?

▪ Nanotechnology is the manipula%on of maAer with a size from 1 to 100 nanometres.

C1. In quantum mechanics, what is meant by superposi%on and entanglement?

Superposi%on
▪ The ability of a quantum system to be in mul%ple states at the same %me un%l it is
measured
Entanglement

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Co-dependence of the quantum states of pairs or groups of par%cles

C2. How can quantum computers solve complex arithme%cal problems far more rapidly than
classical computers?
▪ Each qubit can be 1 and 0 at the same %me and so can calculate a vast number of
possible outcomes simultaneously.

Unit Ques(ons
4. State two uses of ar%ficial intelligence in the modern world. [2]
Any two:
voice recogni%on, transla%on, automa%c pilots, medical diagnosis.
The answer must contain an ac%vity in which the device can improve performance without
the need for reprogramming.

10. State two advantages of DNA compu%ng over silicon computers. [2]
Any two from:
§ As long as there are cellular organisms, there will always be a supply of DNA.
§ The large supply of DNA makes it a cheap resource.
§ Unlike the toxic materials used to make traditional microprocessors, DNA biochips can
be made cleanly.
§ DNA computers are many times smaller than today’s computers.