Logic-gate 'supermolecules' play noughts & crosses

The Royal Society of Chemistry has awarded a Belfast-based boffin a prize for developing "intelligent supermolecules" which are on an intellectual level with (some) human children - able to win games of noughts and crosses. The unfeasibly tiny nanobrain developments sprang from the normal-sized brain of Professor A Prasanna de …

[Pierre]

Win tic-tac-toe, really?

It is strictly impossible to loose a tic-tac-toe game to ANY oponent when you play first. I'm taking on these smartypant 'cules any day. AAAHHHRRR!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow!

'clever as kids' - shouldn't be too hard these days...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nano Supermolecule ASBO?

Oh great, molecules as intelligent as (some) children. If the "some" are the mini-yobbo-terrorists that roam the streets safe in the knowledge they are legally untouchable, it's the end of the world as we know it.

But if not, can I get an injection of this stuff please, it might boost my maths skills and I could even beat the sprogs at O-X-O for once...

Penguin? I like penguins

[Mark McGuire]

ROTC?

Rise of the Chemicals?

I for one welcome our bonding (chemically) overlords!

[Stephen Stagg]

@Pierre

Actually, it is not impossible to loose tic-tac-toe when you start, it may be fairly difficult to loose, but it is possible.

[Anonymous Coward]

reversing the natural roles existing within the eye...

Ooo... like the augments in Deus Ex?

Mine's the black leather with the sniper rifle...

[Michael]

@ Pierre

Unless the starting player makes a mistake. Strictly speaking, it's impossible to win tic-tac-toe at all unless a player makes a mistake.

[A J Stiles]

noughts and crosses

It's *always* possible to force a draw, whether you move first or second. Winning depends on particularly inept play by your opponent.

I thought everyone knew this, even Paris Hilton?

[Matt]

Next week

...10 A*s at GCSE.

[Matthew Smith]

Vote For Lose

I think lose should be spelled with one oh, to distinguish it from that other common word loose. I may be democratically outvoted here but I think the dictionary still has the casting vote.

[Tim]

And they said processors couldn't get smaller

When will we see our cellphone implants?

[Tom Chiverton]

Win at tick-tack-toe ?

Surly the only winning move is not to play ?

Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess ?

WarGames? Never heard of it, why ?

[Dave]

An old TI-58

I had a program for my old TI-58 calculator (25 years ago) to allow it to play noughts and crosses. I deliberately programmed in one way to beat it, otherwise it would have been invincible. Nice to see the supermolecules are catching up.

[Anonymous Coward]

But how do the smartycules hold the pencil?

ok, I guess we are talking about the logic computation only, not actually playing tictactoe, yet then.

so Im not sure its such an achievment, as any switch system can do this if ordered correctly, wow intelligent glass marbles beat kids at tictactoe.. (thats a marble computer if your wondering)

[Anonymous Coward]

Comparison?

Why are they comparing this to children? It's just a computer so it can't do anything it's not programmed to do. So if it's programmed to win at a game it will always win unless the game is not winnable.

Should they not be comparing this to other logic processors? like how many calculations per second can it perform...

[Wortel]

Hmm..

Will AMD or Intel be the first to employ this tech in future processors? ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

Vote for loose

Loose is gonna get my vote any day.

Paris needs no introduction here.

[Allan Dyer]

Smart as kids?

So do these molecules cry at bedtime, and sneakily blame the "accident" on their siblings?

[Pierre]

@ smartass TTT players

You're right, it's impossible to loose if you play second too, but it's then much more difficult to win (weak. I know).

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't wait...

Next up: nano-Eliza. Then everyone can have a real, invisible friend.