"IBM is prepped to lead the way into the next era of exascale computing, at least if the technology they showed off at a convention today in Chiba, Japan can live up to expectations.

"Words like “futuristic,” “computerized,” “explosive,” and “grenade launcher” really tickle our sensibilities, so perhaps it was no surprise that we honored the XM-25 grenade launcher – that futuristic-looking, computerized-targeting infantry weapon that hurls smart explosive rounds downrange – with a Best of What’s New award last year.

Silicon chips are on the way out, at least if Duke University engineer Chris Dwyer has his way. The professor of electrical and computer engineering says a single grad student using the unique properties of DNA to coax circuits into assembling themselves could produce more logic circuits in a single day than the entire global silicon chip industry could produce in a month.

A demo of a quantum calculation carried out by Japanese researchers has yielded some pretty mind-blowing results: a single molecule can perform a complex calculation thousands of times faster than a conventional computer.