So when researchers look to the future of computing, attempting to mimic bio-functions or combine them with electronics seems like a step in the right direction as far as speed and efficiency are concerned. However, the reality of the situation is not so supportive. Past attempts to merge the two types of systems have not yielded any special results.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists are taking a deeper, or more nanoscopic, look into the idea of cohabitating the living and the inanimate. “With the creation of even smaller nanomaterials that are comparable to the size of biological molecules, we can integrate the systems at an even more localized level,” explains Aleksander Noy, lead LLNL scientist on the bio-electrical project.

To step into this realm of the minutia, Noy's team turned to silicon nanowires and lipid membranes – both popular ingredients in modern nanomaterials research. By covering the silicon nanowire with a back-to-back layer of lipid membranes, the scientists are able to isolate the conducting nanowire from outside solutions. Just as in normal biological systems, the lipids prevent ions and small molecules from reaching the nanowire.

In order to create an pseudo information gateway, the lipid layer is interspersed with alamethicin molecules, which act as pores to allow information, in this case ions, to flow into and out of the nanowire. By controlling the gate voltage being held by the nanowire, the scientists can open and close the pore molecules, either allowing ions to escape (signal transmission) or allowing them to slip through the lipid wall (detection devices).

Nipun Misra, a member of Noy's team and University of California at Berkley graduate student adds to Noy's explanation, “That's not to mention that these lipid membranes also can house an unlimited number of protein machines that perform a large number of critical recognition, transport and signal transduction function in the the cell.”

While the small device is obviously not a fully functioning system, it does create a working foundation for more research into bio-electrical systems. If scientists could harness the speed and power of something even remotely close to the human nervous system's, great leaps of power might be realized in computing technology. Postulations towards tiny fluid-borne microsensor systems based on this technology and combined with the idea of the single nanowire transmission device makes micromachines like medical nanobots less of a science fiction contraption than a budding reality.

Noy, Misra and third co-author Julio Martinez's, a graduate student at University of California at Davis, research data can be found in the August 10th Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online edition