Scientists at an IBM research center in Silicon Valley have created a magnetism-manipulating tool suited to building molecular computers, the company revealed.

The development was touted as a step toward making computers based on the spin of electrons and atoms.

The new method was called “spin-excitation spectroscopy” and used a specially-designed microscope capable of creating magnetic fields as much as 140,000 times stronger than that of the Earth, scientists said.

Researchers were able to manipulate atoms and measure the effect their spins had on each other, according to IBM.

Source: AFP