Turning DNA into a hard drive

Turning DNA into a hard drive  Stanford's Drew Endy and his lab figured out a way to turn DNA into a rewriteable data storage device that can operate within a cell. Stanford engineers have designed rewritable memory modules made out of DNA. Here, E. coli bacteria glow different colors depending on what information is stored in their memory modules. (Norbert von der Groeben, Stanford School of Engineering / May 10, 2012) Silicon-based computers are fine for typing term papers and surfing the Web, but scientists want to make devices that can work on a far smaller scale, recording data within individual cells. One way to do that is to...

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Mars has life's building blocks

  Mars 'has life's building blocks'       The researchers suggest Mars has "been undertaking organic chemistry for most of its history" New evidence from meteorites suggests that the basic building blocks of life are present on Mars. The study found that carbon present in 10 meteorites, spanning more than four billion years of Martian history, came from the planet and was not the result of contamination on Earth. Details of the work have been published in the journal Science. But the research also shows the Martian carbon did not come from life forms. A team of scientists based at the Carnegie Institution for Science,...

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