Scientists at HP?s Quantum System Labs are reporting that they have developed a new memory technology that could completely revolutionize memory storage in the future. This new technology is known as a ?memristor?, or memory resistor. The memristor is capable of storing its latest information organically, effectively detailing the entire ?history? of the stored memory as a corollary of its own existence.

The interesting part of this state of existence is that this could make computer start up time instantaneous and could allow the computer to adapt to users based on the stored history.

Also, these memristors could not lose memory unless they were physically damaged.

37 years ago, a Berkeley scientist, Leon Chua, theorized that the ?memristor? was the fourth fundamental electrical circuit, joining the established three, resistor, capacitor, and inductor.

HP scientist Stanley Williams is now the first to actually discover a memristor, an incredibly exciting development. He says, ?To find something new and yet so fundamental in the mature field of electrical engineering is a big surprise, and one that has significant implications for the future of computer science.?

The potential for this technology is absolutely massive. Suffice it to say, there is a good chance that system memory in the future will be dominated by memristors, replacing the cumbersome RAM that is so widespread.

Of course there are hosts of other applications, and I?m sure more will come to light as this technology is refined for consumer electronics over the next few years.

Naturally, there are no immediate plans to put memristors in anything, being still in its infancy, but expect researchers to attack this technology vigorously.