Ozicell
User ID: 964029
 Australia
05/15/2010 02:31 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Meet the nano-spiders: The DNA robots that could one day be walking through your body [ link to www.dailymail.co.uk] SNIP
Pardon my ignorance but just what is the definition of a robot? Something as small as they are proposing here sounds more like a programmed biological unit rather than mechanical!
Scientists have created microscopic robots out of DNA molecules that can walk, turn and even create tiny products of their own on a nano-scale assembly line.
The ground-breaking devices outlined in the journal Nature, could one day lead to armies of surgeon robots that could clean human arteries or build computer components.
In one of the projects a team from New York's Columbia University created a spider bot just four nanometres across. This is about 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
The nano-spider moves along a track comprising stitched-together strands of DNA that is essentially a pre-programmed course.
The track exploits DNA's double-helix molecule - a structure of four chemicals that are paired in rungs.
By 'unzipping' the DNA you end up with a track that can be used rather like the teeth in a clockwork mechanism. A cog can move around the teeth, provided it meshes with them.
By using strands that correspond to sequences in the track, the robot can be made to walk, turn left or right as it is biochemically attracted to the next matching stretch.
Last Edited by Account Deleted by User on 10/15/2011 05:45 PMThat which is - has already been, And what is to be - has already been. Quote: King Solomon. |
