The Latest On DNA Computing
from the look-at-the-genes-on-that-computer... dept
Here’s the latest article on DNA Computing. For a while people thought this might be the next big thing, but no one was quite sure how. Some of the scientists involved are now saying that the window for pure DNA computing may be closing since there’s been little in the way of big breakthroughs. However, they do believe that DNA computing may be useful in making conventional computers better.
Comments on “The Latest On DNA Computing”
Um..
I don’t think *anyone* ever thought that DNA computing was going to be the next big thing. The scientists who say otherwise just want funding! The original article in Science doesn’t even claim that. The amount of DNA needed to compute problems that would compete with today’s silicon-based computers is something on the order of the mass of the universe. Not a very practical computer, I’d say. As for helping to make computers, sure, that’s possible, but we’re just talking about nanotechnology; it doesn’t *have* to use DNA. There are several working models of nanotech-micromechanical computers that don’t involve DNA.
Now, I’m all for funding basic research, but let’s not overhype what’s actually been done. Any form of DNA computing has a _long_ way to go before it replaces silicon.
Personally, I think quantum computing is the only way to go…. It’s more scalable.