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Tech

Stanford Engineers Invented a Computer that Uses Water Instead of Electrons

Its intent is to transport matter.

Leave it to the engineers at Stanford University to figure out a way to safely combine electronics and water.

Assistant Professor Manu Prakash and his team are developing a new type of computer processor that uses droplets of water instead of electrons. The intent isn't to replace your Compaq Presario with this, but to transport physical matter because the droplets are like "little bags."

As the video shows, the computer uses a small grid filled with T and I-shaped iron bars that the droplets navigate through. Magnetic nanoparticles are injected into the droplets and the grid is encased in a magnetic field that directs the droplets.

"It's about manipulating matter faster," said Prakash. "And that is a capability that we have not had until now."