There's the computer mouse, sure, but how about the computer chicken? University of Delaware researchers have developed a chicken-feather chip, made from soybean resin and feathers crafted into a composite material similar to silicon. In early tests, electrical signals moved twice as quickly through the feather chip as through a conventional silicon chip. Problems still remain, including the natural bumps and irregularities that come from using an organic base. "The microchip industry depends on materials that are ultrasmooth and ultraflat," one researcher said. "This was anything but."
Fowl Circuitry
There's the computer mouse, sure, but how about the computer chicken? University of Delaware researchers have developed a chicken-feather chip, made from soybean resin and feathers crafted into a composite material similar to silicon. In early tests, electrical signals moved twice as quickly through the feather chip as through a conventional silicon chip. Problems still remain, including the natural bumps and irregularities that come from using an organic base. "The microchip industry depends on materials that are ultrasmooth and ultraflat," one researcher said. "This was anything but."
