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DNA computer [1 record]

Record 1 2011-08-30

English

Subject field(s)
  • Information Processing (Informatics)
CONT

Leonard Adleman, a mathematician at the University of Southern California, combined microscopic bits of DNA to calculate a well-known computer problem. A DNA computer processes each step comparatively slowly, but it can work on billions of sites at once in a cell or a test tube. The standard computer problem that Adleman tackled in his lab is one that seeks a route connecting seven cities, some of which have no direct connections between them, in such a way that a hypothetical traveller arrives at each city only once without backtracking. He solved this puzzle by treating the chemical units of DNA as computing symbols, then assigning a series of symbols to each "city." He then used DNAs natural affinity to join its strands together to create possible city-to-city sequences. In a test tube, very short bits of DNA zipped on to other bits, until all possible routes to the seven cities were assembled very rapidly. This sorting of codes serves as a type of computation even though the DNA was doing nothing unusual.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Traitement de l'information (Informatique)
CONT

Vers l'ordinateur à ADN [...] Face à un bogue, les puces déclencheront forcément la bonne réaction de la même façon que notre système immunitaire s'adapte à une nouvelle maladie. Du coup, certains informaticiens se prennent carrément à rêver au «DNA computing», un ordinateur constitué en partie de «briques» d'ADN.

Spanish

Campo(s) temático(s)
  • Tratamiento de la información (Informática)
DEF

Nanocomputadora (nano-ordenador) que usa ADN (ácido desoxirribonucleico) para almacenar información y realizar cálculos complejos.

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