DNA computer settles in thermodynamic equilibrium
Low-energy system is simple and reusable The post DNA computer settles in thermodynamic equilibrium appeared first on Physics World .
Scientists at Maynooth University in Ireland have demonstrated a DNA computer that operates in thermal equilibrium, consuming less energy than conventional computers. Damien Woods and his team created a system where DNA strands and biochemical reactions replaced traditional silicon chips and electrical currents. Unlike most DNA computers, which operate far from equilibrium, this model computes naturally as it settles into its most stable state.
Inspired by "DNA origami," the researchers designed a DNA scaffold with binding domains, onto which they mixed shorter DNA strands representing possible values in a calculation. As these strands competed to bind to the scaffold, the most favorable ones encoded the answer to the computation – similar to bits in a conventional computer.
The team demonstrated the capabilities of their DNA computer by running 10 different programs, including addition, multiplication, and division. Simple calculations took as little as a minute to complete, while larger computations took longer.
One of the key advantages of this DNA-based computer is its ability to be reused for new calculations with different inputs. After repeated use, even after 15 months, the computer still yielded correct answers when simply given water to rehydrate the setup. The system uses a simple, predictable set of molecules and doesn't require molecular fuel or specially prepared initial states, making it efficient and easy to implement.
The researchers believe that this molecular computer could open new avenues for computation in a wet environment and shed light on energy use in computation.
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