The future of computing may lie in living cells

One day silicon-based computing may be a thing of the past and organic computers will be the norm.

While scientists study the possibilities of storing data in DNA, the web magazine Engadget reports that another group of researchers are looking into the possibility of utilizing living cells for next-generation computing.

The latest studies have developed a method of integrating both analog and digital computing into gene-based circuits. This allowed researchers to convert analog chemical reactions into binary output, or the ones and zeros that regular computers understand.

Apart from the obvious applications on general computing, gene-based circuitry can also be helpful to the medical field where it can be programmed to treat various diseases. In fact, clinical trials have been scheduled to use gene circuitry to treat gut diseases within the year. Alfred Bayle