By Patrick Nelson – Biologically created computing devices could one day be as commonplace as today’s microprocessors and microchips, some scientists believe. Consider DNA, the carrier of genetic information and the principal component of chromosomes; it’s showing promise as a data storage medium.

A recent study (PDF) suggests taking matters further and using microbes to network and communicate at nanoscale. The potential is highly attractive for the Internet of Things (IoT), where concealability and unobtrusiveness may be needed for the technology to become completely ubiquitous.

Advantages to an organic version of IoT include not only the tiny size but also the autonomous nature of bacteria, which includes inherent propulsion. There’s “an embedded, natural propeller motor,” the scientists from Queen Mary University in London explain of the swimming functions microbes perform. Read On: