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Researchers at Caltech have figured out a novel way to design an artificial neural network from synthetic DNA, according to a press release from the university. Because DNA is composed of four foundational nucleotides that bond in specific pairings—adenine with thymine, cytosine with guanine—DNA is particularly well poised to be predicted using an algorithm using artificial intelligence and computers to create chemical reactions. That means that machines could create new ways to help ease suffering from diseases or increase human capacity in previously unforeseen ways.
“Similar to how electronic computers and smart phones have made humans more capable than a hundred years ago, artificial molecular machines could make all things made of molecules, perhaps including even paint and bandages, more capable and more responsive to the environment in the hundred years to come,” Lulu Qian, an assistant professor of bioengineering whose lab was responsible for the finding, said.