It is commonplace to find disks with gigabyte capacity. But now, two scientists, C R Stroud and M W Noel, working at Rochester University, have been able to manipulate the position of the electron in an atom. Theyplan to use it to create an atomic memory with letters written directly on an atom (Scientift Canterican, October 1995).

Even though the actualisation of an usable :tomic memory' seems a rather remote possibility, such an atom-based data storage facility would have revolutionary implications.