Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes
Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic News
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Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC.
The secret: It runs on DNA.
A year ago, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, unveiled a programmable molecular computing machine composed of enzymes and DNA molecules instead of silicon microchips.
Now the team has gone one step further. In the new device, the single DNA molecule that provides the computer with the input data also provides all the necessary fuel. To the naked eye, the DNA computer looks like clear water solution in a test tube. There is no mechanical device. A trillion bio-molecular devices could fit into a single drop of water.
Instead of showing up on a computer screen, results are analyzed using a technique that allows scientists to see the length of the DNA output molecule.
Biochemical "nanocomputers" already exist in nature; they are manifest in all living things. But they're largely uncontrollable by humans.
We cannot, for example, program a tree to calculate the digits of pi. Several research groups have proposed designs for DNA computers, but those attempts have relied on an energetic molecule called ATP for fuel.
"This re-designed device uses its DNA input as its source of fuel," said Ehud Shapiro, who led the Israeli research team.
Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic News
__________________
Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC.
The secret: It runs on DNA.
A year ago, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, unveiled a programmable molecular computing machine composed of enzymes and DNA molecules instead of silicon microchips.
Now the team has gone one step further. In the new device, the single DNA molecule that provides the computer with the input data also provides all the necessary fuel. To the naked eye, the DNA computer looks like clear water solution in a test tube. There is no mechanical device. A trillion bio-molecular devices could fit into a single drop of water.
Instead of showing up on a computer screen, results are analyzed using a technique that allows scientists to see the length of the DNA output molecule.
Biochemical "nanocomputers" already exist in nature; they are manifest in all living things. But they're largely uncontrollable by humans.
We cannot, for example, program a tree to calculate the digits of pi. Several research groups have proposed designs for DNA computers, but those attempts have relied on an energetic molecule called ATP for fuel.
"This re-designed device uses its DNA input as its source of fuel," said Ehud Shapiro, who led the Israeli research team.
