Recently, an increasing number of scientists have expressed their opinion on artificial intelligence, and robotics has gone so far in creating humanoid robots that some robots externally (but not internally) are not much different from humans. But let's look at the issue from a different angle. What if we consider the structure of the human body from the point of view of a computer? It is not without reason that many "computer" terms are borrowed from human organs and systems. Take at least the same neural network. Some scientists also thought about this for a very long time, expressing the idea of creating a "genetic computer". That is, a computer located literally on the DNA strand. And recently, work in this area has moved off the ground.
Responsible for the development are specialists from the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf, and headed by scientists Bezu Teshome and Arthur Erbe. Under their leadership, it was possible to create a method for applying a gold coating to nanowires made from pieces of DNA molecules. Such details can be assembled into whole circuits, which can become the basis for creating a "genetic computer". According to Arthur Erbe, “The main benefit of using DNA is that it can quickly create very complex circuits at the nanoscale. The production of complex patterns is possible thanks to a technology called DNA origami, which allows complex spatial structures to be created through a controlled and programmable self-assembly process.”
The sequence of assembly of a DNA molecule is controlled by adding ions of certain chemical elements to a solution and changing the temperature of the solution, which makes it possible to create three-dimensional objects of extremely complex shapes from DNA. Something like nanotubes is assembled from DNA, and then gold nanoparticles are located along the resulting nanotubes. Thus, it is possible to create a nanowire, which still needs to be powered by an electric current. This is already happening under the magnification of a high-precision electron microscope. As a result of all the above manipulations, fully working circuits are obtained, from which it is already possible to assemble the nodes of the "genetic computer". As Bezu Teshome says,
“Our gold DNA nanowires are capable of conducting a current large enough for their size. And in the future, we plan to develop DNA nanowires with a complex structure, with several branches, with the help of which it will be possible to connect a large number of parts into whole circuits."
VLADIMIR KUZNETSOV
