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Researchers Create Logic Circuits From DNA
separsons writes "Researchers at Duke University recently used DNA to craft tiny chips used in computers and electronic circuits. By mixing DNA snippets with other molecules and exposing them to light, researchers created self-assembling, DNA-based logic circuits. Once perfected the tech could serve as an endlessly abundant, cheap alternative to silicon semiconductors. Chris Dwyer, lead researcher on the project, says that one grad student using DNA to make self-assembling circuits could produce more logic circuits in one day than the global silicon chip industry can create in an entire month!"
All you need is a little polymerase chain reaction. I assume that's how the grad student could outdo the global silicon chip industry as mentioned in the article summary.
Johnny 5 is alive.
Chris Dwyer, lead researcher on the project, says that one grad student using DNA to make self-assembling circuits could produce more logic circuits in one day than the global silicon chip industry can create in an entire month!"
Which grad student?
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one grad student using DNA to make self-assembling circuits could produce more logic circuits in one day than the global silicon chip industry can create in an entire month!
The jokes just write themselves.
The enemies of Democracy are
Just wondering.
and THEIR parents, and THEIR parents, and THEIR parents....
thus giving a whole new meaning to the term "computer virus"!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I for one welcome our new Self-Assembling DNA Overlords...
And lead researchers would never overstate the impact of their research, would they?
The job of those of us doing research is to make large claims and have BIG RESULTS! Most of us are all for the research, but tired of the need for justification that involves serious overstatement. Just saying....
I think you need to substitute the two nerds with two college girls. Then one of them is held hostage by the mad scientist. So, the other one had to run back for help from her sorority sisters. Some of whom are chemistry or physics majors with a fascination for big guns and fast cars.
> I understand this joke often gets +5 Funny, even though I don't know what it refers to. So here I go:
> No disassemble Johnny 5!
It's from a 1986 movie, Short Circuit. (There was also a sequel). Fun old family movie about an experimental robot developing a personality. In the second one, there are also bank robbers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091949/
DNA developing into a robot is the other way round, of course.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Tsch, Jesus did this like 100 years ago.
I'd be curious to see a comparison of the density of this tech vs our current silicon based chips.
Bio-neural gel packs SOUND like a good idea, but when cheese can take a federation starship out of commission, I start wondering about how good an idea this is to pursue.
You fucking karma whore! Power-hungry insecure fucking karma whore!
I think that I've seen that porno. Perhaps I've said too much.
LOGIC, n. The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding. The basic of logic is the syllogism, consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion — thus: Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece of work sixty times as quickly as one man. Minor Premise: One man can dig a posthole in sixty seconds; therefore — Conclusion: Sixty men can dig a posthole in one second. This may be called the syllogism arithmetical, in which, by combining logic and mathematics, we obtain a double certainty and are twice blessed. From Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Literally, that is.
And a chance for radically different model names. For example, the slowest DNA-based model will be called "cousin Jed" or something.
I speak England very best
Ok, so we have a nice way of creating logic gates in DNA. But how long does it take to read the entire string of results back to a digital/electronic format?
Life is not for the lazy.
Hmmm. I'm thinking these DNA based gates would be fussy, needing a comfy environment to run in.
Also, how many cycles can they handle before falling apart?
Anyone can run a PCR reaction. Doubles everytime.
This involves a lot of uhh... manual labour. Would his hand get tired?
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
As Turing might say: What a load of cobblers
While you might be able to make ten gazillion AND gates, you still have the minor problem of HOOKING THEM UP into some useful logical building blocks, like adders, buffers, and memory. And the bigger problem of amplifying the results to a level acceptable to the following inputs. And figuring out how to distribute power (ATP) to each amplifier.
And the signal levels are so low, thermal noise is going to induce a lot more errors than you'd like.
And the speed is not likely to be very exciting.
I would not start short-selling Intel stock based on this technology.
TFA may be found here.
For some reason this has got me thinking of a Sci-fi book I read when I was a kid - Virus, by Molly Brown which talks about AIs that have an organic "logic" core and are susceptible to biological viruses. Good SF for young readers.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
This sounds quite promising, but I'd worry about DNA's melting point. Double stranded DNA will melt and become single stranded DNA at around 100 degrees Celsius. However, this melting point is quite variable since GC bonds are ~50% stronger than AT bonds, so the actual melting point could be much higher or much lower. AFAIK doing any sort of calculation requires heat to be produced, so I'd imagine you'd get localized melting of the DNA and disruption of the engineered structure if you did any significant amount of work on it. I'll be interested to see how they solve this problem, since you can't really do much to increase the strength or the number of hydrogen bonds.
Ah, finally low-NRE logic circuits on an immense and cheap scale a la programmable logic, but with real (not emulated) logic gates. EEs of the world unite!
Nerds love good puns, amirite?
I like the way your mind thinks
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
For with this bottle of sperm, I can create more minions in a day than the entire US army can train in a decade
Of course, actually getting them equipped to do anything will take additional funding.
It's typical to overhype and exaggerate results like this. What's interesting is if it really is that easy to make reliable, robust, defect free logic circuits so easy, would it be a good thing or a bad thing economically. I'd certainly be out of a job if a grad student could magically mix up an SOC complete with electrical interconnects and packaging while his/her advisor slowly whittles away at his/her self esteem
Maybe Chris could demonstrate a working logic device that doesn't rely on expensive optical components to provide the input and output (he's making optical devices, not electrical - because DNA doesn't conduct). His speed, scalability, cost... everything is dependent on the optics system he uses. It's borderline dishonest for him to sell this as a silicon replacement right now.
His waffles look nice though. Very tasty. I've seen that image many times now...
So this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase?
I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. -- Groucho Marx