brainwagon

This is just too cool! Need to make a few million nanoscale smiley faces?

Rothemund has developed a computer program that can analyze a shape, figure out the right folding pattern, and then tell you what DNA staples you need to make that shape.”It’s really easy and fun, actually, to make whatever you want at the nano-scale. You design it in the computer, you order the DNA sequences, they come in the mail, you add a little bit of salt water, you heat it up and cool it down, and then an hour and a half later, it’s ready to look at under the microscope.”

[tags]DNA,Science,NPR[/tags]