all on their own, a process commonly known as self-assembly. "The cobalt nanoparticles which form the rings are essentially tiny magnets with a north and south pole, just like the magnets you played with as a kid," says Wei, who is an associate professor of chemistry in Purdue's School of Science. "The nanoparticles link up when they are brought close together. Nor- mally you might expect these to form chains, but under the right conditions, the particles will assemble into rings instead." The magnetic dipoles responsible for nanoring formation also produce a collective magnetic state known as flux closure. There is strong magnetic force, or flux, within the rings themselves, stemming from the magnetic poles each particle possesses. But after the particles form rings, the net magnetic effect is zero outside. Tripp developed conditions leading to the self-assembly of the cobalt nanorings, then initiated a collaboration with Dunin-Borkowski to study their magnetic properties. By using a technique known as electron holog- raphy, the researchers were able to observe directly the flux-closure states, which are stable at room temperature. "Magnetic rings are currently being considered as memory elements in devices for long-term data storage and magnetic random-access memory," Wei says. "The rings contain a magnetic field, or flux, which can flow in one of two directions, clockwise or counterclockwise. Magnetic rings can thus store binary NUTS AND BITS-TELECOM HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND MORE information, and, unlike most magnets, the rings keep the flux to themselves. This minimizes crosstalk and reduces error during data processing." When you turn on your computer, it loads its operating system and what- ever documents you are working on into its RAM, or random-access memory. RAM is fast, enabling your computer to make quick changes to whatever is stored there, but its chief drawback is its volatility-it cannot perform without a continuous supply of electricity. Many people have experienced the frustra- tion of losing an 