DNA can be used for computation
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When you fill a test tube with molecules made from folded DNA, it functions as a simple computer. This approach is used to divide two numbers into prime factors.
A traditional computer works by energizing a small on/off switch and performing simple calculations. But new computers rely on the way differently shaped DNA molecules bind together.
Yinan Zhang and his colleagues at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China used a process called DNA origami. In this process, the chemicals twist and entangle and stick together in long chains.
