Scientists Build DNA Computer That Solves 100-Bit Problems in Water Drops
Updated
Updated · Livescience.com · Sep 19
Scientists Build DNA Computer That Solves 100-Bit Problems in Water Drops
3 articles · Updated · Livescience.com · Sep 19
Summary
Nature published results for a scaffolded DNA computer that ran more than 700 calculations in salt water, including 10 programs and computations up to 100 bits.
Billions to trillions of DNA strands compete to bind a longer scaffold, letting thermodynamics drive the system toward the lowest-energy arrangement, which encodes the correct answer.
Small tasks such as 10 + 3 finished in about 30 seconds, while a larger calculation in the 11 million-to-34 million range took up to 14 hours—slow for silicon but faster than other DNA computers, researchers said.
Three programs were rerun up to 24 times, and one experiment worked again 1.5 years later after researchers added water to a partially dried sample, underscoring the system's reusability.
Researchers said the work is still a proof of concept, but it could inform molecular data storage, smart materials and computing inside living cells.