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Scientists build DNA based computer

Posted by chrisd on from the computer?-you're-soaking-in-it dept.

Archangel Michael writes "Israeli scientists have built a DNA computer so tiny that a trillion of them could fit in a test tube and perform a billion operations per second with 99.8 percent accuracy. Yahoo News has the story"

19 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. 99.8%? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are they sure that the calculation just isn't off by .2%?

  2. Ouch! by Zen+Mastuh · · Score: 4, Funny
    DNA can hold more information in a cubic centimetre than a trillion CDs.

    Man, a whole galaxy could have signed up for free AOL service with the DNA I just jetissoned...

    --
    "What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
    1. Re:Ouch! by RedWizzard · · Score: 5, Funny
      DNA can hold more information in a cubic centimetre than a trillion CDs.
      Just how much information can a trillion CDs fit in a cubic centimetre?
  3. Oh, the indecision by SumDeusExMachina · · Score: 2, Funny
    I was so sure that I wanted to be an EE, but now I have to choose between that and genetic engineering?

    DAMN IT!

    --

    Is your company running tools written by ma
  4. Oh God NO! by WyldOne · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now I'll have to buy anti-biotics for my computer when it gets a virus! I wonder if it will be covered by an HMO?

    --

    make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
  5. I build DNA computers also... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    but the kids only have a 60% accuracy. My wife blames me...

    :(

  6. what about a beowulf cluster of these? by Ruis · · Score: 2, Funny

    oh wait, I guess that's what I am.

  7. eh? by kilgore_47 · · Score: 3, Funny

    from the article:
    When a trillion computers run together they are capable of performing a billion operations

    So, if does that mean that there are 1,000 tiny computers for each individual operation, or is some translator mixing up his numbers?

    --
    ___
    The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. --Ben Franklin
  8. Re:Karma Whoring by Kengineer · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Imagine a BEOWULF cluster of these!!!

    Ha ha.. I've heard that joke so many times, it's started to be really funny. I even say it at bars... someone points out the nice rack on this girl who walks in and I yell out "IMAGINE A BEOWULF CLUSTER OF THOSE!" and everyone gets real quiet and stares at me like I'm crazy or something....

    - kengineer

  9. BGOD by nick_davison · · Score: 4, Funny

    "99.8 percent accuracy"

    "Yikes, I've got the blue gunk of death!"

  10. a bird in the hand... by Transient0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Absolutely, every couple of months there is a new news article about a ground-breaking new type of computer. But each time, it's basically just "hey look, we managed to get this to do something that kinda looks like basic computer operations". Quantom computers sound really cool, DNA computers sound really cool, but where is a reasonable long term plan? Where's something to actually get excited about?

    I can build AND, NOT and XOR gates out of cats, mice and string. I can string a thousand of these gates together... but i won't be able to install an OS on it in any practical way.

    I'll be excited when one of these test-tubes can play mp3s, compile my kernel, and send me instant messages telling me what website i can see AVIs of Britney Spears being ravaged by high school football players at. Until then, i just don't care.

    The abiility to do FLOPs does not a Turing Machine make.

    --
    lysergically yours
  11. Re:Dear God by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 4, Funny
    Wow! Just imagine if the DNA could turn biomass into usable energy, and the process was based on a solar powered reaction too! Imagine if they used a chlorophyll based extraction process!


    Oh!....Oh!....Oh *Shit*! We're fucking surrounded by solar powered DNA based machines! They're everywhere! I have to put my tinfoil hat back on now.



    I don't even know why I read the news anymore.



    I don't even know why you bother to post here anymore.

    --
    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
  12. It makes sense. by interstellar_donkey · · Score: 5, Funny
    A billion calculations per second...

    99.8% accurate.


    Which means it'll make 2 million mistakes every second.


    I think my bank and government use these.

    --
    The Internet is generally stupid
  13. Viruses! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow. A virus would be a very serious situation for a DNA-based computer.

    "All your DNA are belong to us."

  14. Re:Dear God by dorkstar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't worry--if the viruses you postulate become reality, they will depend on us for their existence. Being intelligent, they will no doubt farm us as we farm cows. You will have a place in the new order.

  15. Oh, great... by Dr.+Zowie · · Score: 5, Funny
    Just what we need: a computer that's capable of making 20,000,000 mistakes per second, mixed in with 9,980,000,000 right answers.

    How do you tell which ones are which?

  16. That's Nothing by istartedi · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's Nothing. The other night the star quarterback and the head cheerleader created a practical DNA computer in the back of his Chevy pickup.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  17. Re:Karma Whoring by glwtta · · Score: 5, Funny

    that kinda made me think that 'rack-mount' can have some very different meanings...

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
  18. Honey, I shrunk the scientists! by Man+of+E · · Score: 4, Funny
    Israeli scientists have built a DNA computer so tiny that a trillion of them could fit in a test tube

    Wow, just imagine a trillion Israeli scienists in a test tube. It's a snug fit, but in such close proximity, they still perform a billion operations per second!
    I think we should build another DNA computer and put a whole international consortium of scientists into it! Just imagine the results.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une sig