March 18, 2008 – We have talked before about the Nokia Morph cell phone design featured at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. There are several new and different ideas out there for consumer electronics, not just cellular phones. For instance, scientists are looking for new ways to make bette part for electronics such as computers, MP3 players, and cell phones by using organisms such as viruses, silkworms, salmon sperm, and even potatoes. Along with Nokia, other companies are getting on board including IBM (IBM), Motorola (MOT), Fujitsu, Honeywell (HON), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) to name a few.

Other materials that have been experimented with include spider’s silk. The silk that can be harvested from spiders is a strong as steel and tougher than most other naturally occurring substances. Likewise, biomaterials are now being used to make electronic devices. Biomaterials have already been used in artificial joints, dental implants, and heart valves, but not scientists are integrating the same technology into electronics.

Microorganisms such as bacterial DNA are being used to create superdense memory chips for use in cell phones. With this type of cellular phone memory chip, cell phoens could store a terabyte of data which would equal about 1,000 digital copies of Encyclopedia Britannica. Scientists are also experimenting with ways to uswe DNA to engineer a better light bulb that could last three to five times longer than regular light bulbs.

Although some of these new ideas and new ideas such as these may seem a bit unreal, with so many being thought up and created, there is no doubt that we will eventually see some of these ideas come to life.

By Jeanna Lee

Source: businessweek.com