News Tech

I, computer

Engineered bacteria become the first living computers

By Patrick Barry

- More than 2 years ago

Scientists have built the first living computer and tasked it with solving an important problem: flipping pancakes.

How many flips does it take to get these pancakes sorted? A colony of E. coli may be able to sort it out.
BURNT PANCAKE PROBLEM How many flips does it take to get these pancakes sorted? A colony of E. coli may be able to sort it out. iStockphoto

Researchers genetically engineered the bacterium E. coli to coax its DNA into computing a classic mathematical puzzle known as the burned pancake problem.