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Science 9 February 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5813, p. 733
DOI: 10.1126/science.315.5813.733a
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This Week in Science

Figure 1 Nonlinear processes can be highly disruptive or turbulent, and thus would be unlikely candidates for being time reversible (see the Perspective by Epstein). Fuerstman et al. (p. 828) exploit the linear and smooth flow associated with microfluidics to create a system that shows nonlinear behavior in the motions of entrained droplets that can be reversed with time. As the fluid flows toward a T-junction, the entrained droplets must choose one branch or the other, and this decision has a nonlinear dependence on the fluid flow and the rate of droplet production. After the two streams recombine, the droplets take on a particular repeat pattern or encoding that can be decoded through a reversal of the fluid flow. Prakash and Gershenfeld (p. 832) exploit nonlinear behavior of bubbles in a microfluidic system to create bubble logic, in which the bubbles represent bits of information similar to the ones and zeros used in digital computation. They create a series of simple devices including AND, OR, and NOT gates, as well as more complex signal amplification and processing.

CREDIT: MANU PRAKASH




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