In a first, scientists
have designed a new, superfast form of a ‘magic' computer made of DNA molecules
that grow as it computes and can outperform all standard systems in solving
important practical problems. Researchers from The University of Manchester in
the UK showed the feasibility of engineering a universal Turing machine (UTM) -
a computer that can be programmed to compute anything any other device can
process.
Electronic computers are a form of
UTM, but no quantum UTM has yet been built. The theoretical properties of such
a computing machine, including its exponential boost in speed over electronic
and quantum computers, have been well understood for many years. But the
breakthrough demonstrates that it is actually possible to physically create a
UTM using DNA molecules.
DNA computing
is the performing of computations using biological molecules rather than
traditional silicon chips. In DNA computing, information is represented using
the four-character genetic alphabet - A (adenine), G (guanine), C (cytosine),
and T (thymine) - rather than the binary alphabet, which is a series of 1s and
0s used by traditional computers. The research appears in the Journal of the
Royal Society Interface.
“Imagine a
computer is searching a maze and comes to a choice point, one path leading left
and the other right. Electronic computers need to choose which path to follow
first,” said Ross D King, from The University of Manchester. “But our new
computer doesn't need to choose, for it can replicate itself and follow both paths
at the same time, thus finding the answer faster,” he added. -PTI
Source: DNA-04th March,2017
