Meeting notice: 07-07-98 7:30 NE43-773 (545 Tech Sq.) Suggested topics: 1) In the 12 June issue of _Science_ James R. Heath and others published an exceptionally interesting article on defect-tolerant computer architectures. Abstract: Teramac is a massively parallel experimental computer built at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories to investigate a wide range of different computational architectures. This machine contains about 220,000 hardware defects, any one of which could prove fatal to a conventional computer, and yet it operated 100 times faster than a high-end single-processor workstation for some of its configurations. The defect-tolerant architecture of Teramac, which incorporates a high communication bandwith that enables it to easily route around defects, has significant implications for any future nanometer-scale computational paradigm. It may be feasible to chemically synthesize individual electronic components with less than a 100 percent yield, assemble them into systems with appreciable uncertainty in their connectivity, and still create a powerful and reliable data communications network. Future nanoscale computers may consist of extremely large-configuration memories that are programmed for specific tasks by a tutor that locates and tags the defects in the system. Highly recommended. One of the more important NT- related articles to appear this year. I will bring a few copies to the meeting. 2) As we gain more command over smaller amounts of time, space, and matter, life becomes more complex; systems science teaches us that as the complexity of a system grows state moves to the end nodes. (In the context of this example, humans get more choices.) Often this is good; sometimes a cautionary tale appears. An example of the latter is the recent emergence on the market of teleoperated sniper rifles. Extended comments on this development plus an exceptionally ignorant treatment of the topic by the media can be found at http://world.std.com/~fhapgood/rifle. Nanonews: Nanoscale Electrochemistry - a tool for forming structures of almost atomic dimensions. The deposition of nanometer-sized clusters and the local etching of a metal surface have been achieved by applying ultrashort voltage pulses in an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin (Physical Review Letters 80, 5599 (1998)). http://www.mpg.de/news12.htm Interest in "smart" materials that can sense and respond to changes in their environment has increased with new advances in the 20-year-old science. http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/acs-iiismir.html Announcement Archive: http://world.std.com/~fhapgood/nsgpage.html. Warning: For Internal use only. hapgood@pobox.com