Researchers have developed the first light-based microprocessor

A group of researchers from Berkeley, Boulder, and MIT have successfully demonstrated a microprocessor that transmits data through optical connections instead of electrical wires, which the researchers claim allows it transmit data at ten to fifty times the speed of traditional microprocessors. The MIT Technology Review does a better job of explaining how this works and why it’s significant, but the gist of it is that this new microprocessor is light-based, which allows it to be much more energy efficient than wire-based ones, and that’s something that would be immensely useful in data centers.