MNT-CURN Seminar Series: Antibody Engineers - Blockchain & Proof of Useful Work

This video is part of a series from the Micro Nano Technology Education Center's (MNT-EC) Micro Nano Technology Collaborative Undergraduate Research Network (MNT-CURN) Research Program. In this program, students gain hands-on research experience and build nanotechnology technical education skills. Throughout this video series, viewers "... will hear and see nanotechnology and microtechnology professors presenting about their own research and work -- from biosensors to underwater drones to nanomaterials." Each video covers a different specialty that students may want to learn about and pursue as an undergraduate research project.

During the presentation, Alejandro Strachan, professor of materials engineering at Purdue University, provides an explanation of blockchain and discusses research aimed at adapting bitcoin mining technology, originally used to solve cryptographic problems for bitcoin, for addressing scientific challenges. Blockchain is the technology underlining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, functioning as a ledger that records bitcoin transactions in the form of blocks. To add another block to the chain, one must solve a cryptographic password, which is done through bitcoin mining. Strachan follows the explanation of blockchain by discussing research related to the usage of this same technology to solve scientific problems, which can help maximize benefits from the energy-intensive process of bitcoin mining.

This video runs 32:53 minutes in length. Additional videos from this series are available to view separately.