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World's Smallest Wedding Rings Made of DNA

Posted by samzenpus on from the GCAT-grade-stone dept.

fangmcgee writes "Nerd love alert: German researchers have just created the world's smallest wedding rings, measuring less than a thousandth of the width of a human hair. Goethe University professor Alexander Heckel and his doctoral student Thorsten Schmidt made the artificial structures from two interlocking loops of DNA — known as catenane — in a single drop of water."

16 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. But will she still be angry by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Funny

    When you accidentally drop it down the sink later?

  2. Wedding? by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In what way are these rings "wedding rings"?

    --
    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    1. Re:Wedding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      In no way whatsoever. The wedding ring reference was a joke made by the post doc who did this research. The press being what it is, used the joke. Then, at the end of the "article," the author makes an engagement ring joke, despite engagement rings not being the same as wedding rights at all.

    2. Re:Wedding? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

      Fun fact: In Spanish, the word for "wives" is the same as the word for "handcuffs."

      The even funnier reason why: The word for wife came first, stemming from a latin word that means "promise," and somehow the bond between husband and wife got handcuffs named after the term. Guess you can't make "ball-and-chain" jokes in Spanish? :P

      Plausible romantic lie you can tell to a woman: <voice class="Antonio_Banderas">That's because they both come from a verb that means "to be linked at the wrist."</voice>

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  3. I just don't get it by paiute · · Score: 2

    Do people buy wedding rings which are intertwined? If so, why? You can't wear them that way.

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  4. Great way to impress your girlfriend! by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey, I bought you the "World's Smallest Wedding Ring Made of DNA" . . . um, do you like it . . .?

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Great way to impress your girlfriend! by rtaylor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Response: "Your DNA is what got us into this in the first place!"

      --
      Rod Taylor
    2. Re:Great way to impress your girlfriend! by MokuMokuRyoushi · · Score: 2

      Response1: Unless it is at least 3 karates you are still sleeping on the sofa.

      What about two Taekwondos and a kung fu?

      --
      Humans are terrible replicators of Godly things.
    3. Re:Great way to impress your girlfriend! by stonewallred · · Score: 2
      Since my divorce I have found my ex-wife did have some redeeming qualities.

      She was allergic to gold, it made her break out.

      She was allergic to most flowers, especially roses.

      She did not like chocolate.

      She always had a job

      And she, unless physically ill, was always willing and ready to have sex. Even a quickie on her way out the door to work if I desired.

  5. Yeah. Try giving that to your girl. by Chas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Geek or no. She wants a goddamn diamond!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  6. But it isn't thermodynamically stable, honey! by Mathinker · · Score: 2

    No problem, just explain to her that diamond is thermodynamically unstable and will decompose into graphite anyway within a few billion years.... dramatic pause... "and I'm sure our love will last much longer than that!".

    Or maybe, tell her that it quickly converts to graphite at temperatures greater than 1700 degrees C... dramatic pause... "and our passion is much hotter than that!".

    Or... dramatic pause... just tell her you're broke.

    1. Re:But it isn't thermodynamically stable, honey! by Xacid · · Score: 2

      That was pretty much one of my barometers for choosing a wife. "You either get a house or an expensive ring. Which do you choose?"

      Remember Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (original)- where they sorted out the bad eggs? There you go.

    2. Re:But it isn't thermodynamically stable, honey! by radtea · · Score: 2

      That was pretty much one of my barometers for choosing a wife. "You either get a house or an expensive ring. Which do you choose?"

      Oh c'mon! Nothing says "I love you" more than an overpriced rock dug out the ground by African slave labour and sold to you via a cartel of obscenely wealthy oligarchs!

      I actually do think the whole "three months salary" thing is a great invention, though. Any woman who wants a ring worth that much is one to run, not walk, away from, so it's a great litmus test of a life partner.

      --
      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  7. Just created? by ibpooks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Umm...married people have been exchanging DNA for a very long time.

    1. Re:Just created? by blair1q · · Score: 2

      balls.

  8. yeah, how's that working out? by blair1q · · Score: 2

    Will a paternity test be needed to get a divorce now, to make sure you're actually the father of the wedding ring?