Caltech researchers have produced the most sophisticated DNA-based computer yet, a wet chemistry system that can calculate the square roots of numbers as high as 15.
The system is composed of 74 strands of DNA that make up 12 logic gates comparable to those in a silicon-based computer, the researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science. But the system operates a little more slowly than a conventional computer: It takes as much as 10 hours to obtain each result.
The new findings mark a major change in the direction of DNA-based computing, which researchers have been working on for two decades. “We are no longer trying to compete with silicon computers,” said Caltech bioengineer Erik Winfree, senior author of the study. Instead, they are trying to develop computers that can interact directly with components within living cells.
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