Buried in the today's news by the first credible report of human embryo cloning is Intel's as-stunning announcement of the development of a photonics-based chip. On-chip photonics has been regarded as a pipe dream since the 1980s. I distinctly remember when, in my first year of college, my CS prof got misty eyed as he spoke wistfully of a future of photonics-based computers. Well, it looks like Intel has really done it, and they managed to keep it secret until today's announcement. Read for yourself:

www.nytimes.com/2004/02/1...2chip.html