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Enzyme Computer Could Live Inside You

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sign-me-up-when-i-can-have-a-nanobot-swarm dept.

dylanduck writes "New Scientist reports the creation of an enzyme-based computer that performs AND and XOR calculations, and combinations of the two, based on the presence or absence of specific chemicals. If they can be engineered inside living cells, they could measure a patient's metabolism and deliver just the right amount of drug at just the right spot, the researchers reckon. I'm worried about the viruses." Ba-dump *chink*.

2 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Logical sequencing? by WhiplashII · · Score: 1, Informative

    Um, the basis of all computers is two gates that allow oposing actions. For example, a Not gate and an OR gate. (And=not(or(not(a),not(b)))) Everything else is built from these gates - so this is already more than enough to build a computer. (Not=xor(a,a)), (or=not(and(not(a),not(b))))

    --
    while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
  2. the world of synthetic biology by bleppie · · Score: 2, Informative
    Check out the world of synthetic biology

    From the FAQ:

    Synthetic biology studies how to build artificial biological systems for engineering applications, using many of the same tools and experimental techniques. But the work is fundamentally an engineering application of biological science, rather than an attempt to do more science. The focus is often on ways of taking parts of natural biological systems, characterizing and simplifying them, and using them as a component of a highly unnatural, engineered, biological system.

    Neat comic strip by Drew Endy: http://mit.edu/endy/www/scraps/comic/AiSB.vol1.pdf