DNA, the molecule of life, turns mathlete.
Using the natural zipping and unzipping behavior of DNA strands, researchers at Caltech have developed a new and adaptable method for turning the molecules into calculators. The design opens up a range of possible circuits built entirely from DNA, capable of crunching basic math problems, the team reports in the June 3 Science.
“This is way beyond cool,” says Andrew Ellington, a biotechnologist at the University of Texas at Austin. “This is complex and sophisticated.”