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FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
FlexRam, a fully flexible resistive random-access-memory device, has been developed by researchers in Tsinghua University in Beijing. This gallium-based liquid metal (GLM) can actually be used to write and read data.
(FlexRAM gallium-based liquid metal memory)
This new liquid metal RAM, which can withstand nearly any deformation, uses reversible electrochemical oxidation to modulate the overall conductivity of the target liquid metals. Published in the journal Advanced Materials, the research details how GLM droplets undergo oxidation and reduction mechanisms in a solution environment that mimics the hyperpolarization and depolarization of neurons. This unique process allows the writing of 1s and 0s, with a low voltage oxidizing the liquid metal to represent “1” and a reverse voltage returning the metal to its low-resistance state of “0".
Science fiction film buffs of course recall those liquid metal T-1000 terminators from the 1991 movie Terminator 2:
John Connor: So this other guy: he's a Terminator like you, right?
The Terminator: Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype.
John Connor: You mean more advanced than you are?
The Terminator: Yes. A mimetic poly-alloy.
John Connor: What the hell does that mean?
The Terminator: Liquid metal.
(Liquid Metal Terminator Development Hums Right Along)
Philip K. Dick fans may be thinking of the machine (the "M") from his 1957 short story The Unreconstructed M. This enigmatic machine can transform itself at will into apparently innocent objects - but it's only waiting to strike.
Beam, holding the cigaret lighter, walked toward the M. A receptor stalk waved toward him and the machine retreated. Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed. For an interval, the device struggled with itself; then, reluctantly, the portable t-v unit again became visible.
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