Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC. The secret: It runs on DNA.

A year ago, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, unveiled a programmable molecular computing machine composed of enzymes and DNA molecules instead of silicon microchips. Now the team has gone one step further. In the new device, the single DNA molecule that provides the computer with the input data also provides all the necessary fuel.

Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes

quoted (use cpunk@cpunk.com as email address for login) :
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Systems biologists envision a hulking database where all biological knowledge can be stored, freely accessed, and designed to interact. From it, researchers could easily extract data to construct virtual molecular pathway models working in their respective networks and in dynamic contexts of time, space, and various environmental cues. Hypotheses could be plucked like apples from the electronic tree of knowledge, and drug targets would fall like leaves. Some want to play out this tremendous vision, but they know it cannot be done at a single lab, by a single investigator. Members of Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS), call for a new scientific world order--a shift toward socialist science.
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I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it socialist science! However, this sort of information system sounds extremely powerful.

[well, it would be social science in that with that system, all of the scientists who used that system would be "collaborating". It may help in progressing science at a fast rate...I don't know. But with "drug targets falling like leaves", I think it would make competition stiffer, which would lead to more secrecy of drug companies, make people file for patents earlier than ever before, etc, etc. Hmm.
On a lighter note, you should check out this site just to see the image they have that I guess is supposed to symbolize socialist science. A big red hand in a fist holding a pipetman. I would *kill* to have that in poster size. - Nano]

The Scientist :: The People's Biology, Feb. 24, 2003

Although there are several possible benign explanations for the image -- such as a barely perceptable jiggle of the camera as it took the time exposure -- NASA's zeal to examine the photo demonstrates the lengths at which the agency is going to tap the resources of ordinary Americans in solving the puzzle.

S.F. man's astounding photo / Mysterious purple streak is shown hitting Columbia 7 minutes before it disintegrated

] Researchers have long suspected that telomeres act as
] molecular clocks governing the process of ageing in
] cells, but until now nobody has proven the link.

New Scientist - Shorter telomeres mean shorter life

MADRID, Spain - Imagine the human genome (news - web sites) as music. Unravel DNA's double helix, picture its components lined up like piano keys and assign a note to each. Run your finger along the keys.

Spanish scientists did that just for fun and recorded what they call an audio version of the blueprint for life.

[Cool....is there anywhere I can download a sample? -Nanochick]

Yahoo! News - Researchers Translate DNA Code As Music

] Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been
] printed using modified desktop printers filled with
] suspensions of cells instead of ink.

Rad, rad, rad!

New Scientist - Ink-jet printing creates tubes of living tissue

] America's space agency has unveiled an ambitious plan to
] learn more about what happened just seconds after the Big
] Bang

Wired News: NASA Looks Way Back to Big Bang

] "Caplan complained about the media coverage of the
] claims. "Nobody should get a story until they produce
] evidence. No matter how telegenic they are, no matter how
] many Star Fleet Command uniforms they have, if you don't
] show up with a baby or a parent or a DNA test, or some
] witnesses who are credible, you shouldn't have a story."
]
] It would be easy to offer proof, said Dr. Robert Lanza,
] medical director of Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell
] Technology. "They are claiming to have the expertise to
] clone people and they didn't even buy a home DNA kit?" he
] asked. "The samples could have been taken by someone in
] junior high school. That only adds to their complete lack
] of credibility." "

Finally, some voices of reason

Wired News: A Name for Clone Babies: 'Hoax'

] "For very long-term storage and retrieval, encode
] information as artificial DNA strands and insert into
] living hosts. As vectors, bacteria, even some bugs and
] weeds, might be good for hundreds of millions of years. "

This is the saddest, most uninformative abstract I have ever seen in my life. Anyway, thought the subject was pretty neat, so I figured I would meme it. I am sure NewScientist will summarize it in a few days.

Information storage in bacterial DNA

] "CULVER CITY Gov. Gray Davis announced plans
] Thursday for economic and education programs to help more
] Californians find jobs in biotech and to ensure the
] lucrative industry keeps a strong presence in the state.

] California must work to ensure the state's 2,500 biotech
] companies are not lured to other states or countries, the
] governor said.

] "Fully one-third of biotech companies and their employees
] are in this state, and we want to keep it that way,"

werd. This makes me happy. I have to admit that the lure of living in California and the prospect of lots of jobs in biotech industry make me think twice about hopping straight into grad school at times.

SignOnSanDiego.com News Business -- Governor announces plan to boost biotech jobs