Computer Chips of the Future May Incorporate Strands of DNA

The computer chip of the future may have DNA embedded in it, Israeli researchers report in Nature. A team from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology used short strands of DNA to guide the construction of silver wires that are only one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair. That is only one-fifth of the thickness of wires that can be manufactured by current technology, and the researchers say they can produce wires that are thinner still.

The team placed DNA strands on circuit boards where they wanted a wire. Although DNA itself does not conduct electricity, it served as a template for the condensation of silver atoms, which do conduct. The team also found that the wires act as diodes--which remember the direction current passed through it. The wires could thus be used to construct a computer memory.

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II