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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"

12 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. I build DNA computers also... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    :(

  4. 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

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

    "99.8 percent accuracy"

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

  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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.

  9. 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?

  10. 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
  11. 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