71 Comments
- fonsus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+49i'd like to see him do a "hello world" on the DNA strand!
- drummerjed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23It makes some creature of unspeakable evil and horror.
- Godric, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21False color, since these pics were taken by an electron or atomic force microscope.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Finally! It's about time, we've all been waiting for those nano DNA smiley faces for a while now
- jschrab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16You can never tell where a technique that was a plaything in the beginning may turn out to very valuable. Really, you have to walk before you can run. A proof of concept of something silly like a smily face may be the warm up to something far more incredible - and it all costs money.
When it comes to funding for such science, having something that can attract headlines may also attract VC dollars as well. - Cyber_Akuma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Nano-smileys! Finally!
Man, those billions we spent in DNA research sure were worth it! - Ignathius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11ya. just like all those programmers need to jump right into the complex stuff like making new OS kernels and not bothering with stuff like Hello World.
idiot - lollerskates, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Uhh, not when dealing with a large molecule like DNA. Electrons, yes, but I doubt it would affect a long and complex organic acid much.
- warrenfalk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10crap. more emoticons?
- davidv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7You guys are talking as if it were the easiest thing in the world to do. Read the article, its the method that they did it with thats the big picture. Using this new method they could potentially do more productive tasks later on especially with nano technology.
- foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8just wait for those "UPDATED NANO SMILEY FACES... 2.0!!!!!" banner and pop up ads to show up. :
- sinembarg0, on 10/12/2007, -12/+18hey bush isnt evil. hes just not very smart.
- gp120, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's Atomic force Microscopy not tunneling.
AFM operates by measuring attractive or repulsive forces between a tip and the sample. In its repulsive "contact" mode, the instrument lightly touches a tip at the end of a leaf spring or "cantilever" to the sample. As a raster-scan drags the tip over the sample, some sort of detection apparatus measures the vertical deflection of the cantilever, which indicates the local sample height. Thus, in contact mode the AFM measures hard-sphere repulsion forces between the tip and sample.
In noncontact mode, the AFM derives topographic images from measurements of attractive forces; the tip does not touch the sample. Because it does not allow the imaging of samples under water, I have not used the attractive mode. We are talking resolutions of 10 pm (pico). - lxdengar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Does anyone else think the smiley is looking just a tad... evil?
Sinister? - Arkitan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Nice to know that the nanotechnologists have a sense of humor ^.^
- takeda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6First the Safari, then iCab, Konquerror, Opera and now DNA is also passing the ACID-2 test =)
- chillypepper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"extremely coldly temperatures." now thats cold
- SergeantSavage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4ha ha, yeah but you should look at it like an exercise of manipulating dna, rather than just for fun
- ianam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Cool, but the comment in the article about "DNA quantum computers" is nonsense; DNA computers and quantum computers are two distinct technologies, operating at very different scales. DNA computers are small, but they still operate on classical mechanical principles, whereas quantum computers take advantage of the features of quantum mechanics. The information-carrying qubits of quantum computing are measured as the spin states of individual atoms; a DNA molecule is big and bulky in comparison.
- xiphoris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Keep in mind that most of these things are imaged by using electron microsocopes. The size of "a few billionths of a meter" puts it well below the wavelength of light, meaning you can't use a light microscope to see it.
What you're looking at is false coloring. These things are too small to see with light microscopes, by far. - SixSider, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Same team made a north america.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11829347/
See slide show. - gp120, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From the Article in Nature:
"An obvious application of patterned DNA origami would be the creation of a 'nanobreadboard', to which diverse components could be added. The attachment of proteins23, for example, might allow novel biological experiments aimed at modelling complex protein assemblies and examining the effects of spatial organization, whereas molecular electronic or plasmonic circuits might be created by attaching nanowires, carbon nanotubes or gold nanoparticles24. These ideas suggest that scaffolded DNA origami could find use in fields as diverse as molecular biology and device physics." - jmullman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Perhaps we will be able to finally figure out just how many angels will fit onto the head of a pin.
- Mojave, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9This submission would get more diggs if you had included 'iPod' in the title.
- n3tfury, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2have you even read up on nanotechnology?
- ploink341, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1creepy in a cool way.
- degree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1didn't you read the part about the nano cages????
OMG NANO CAGES WATCH OUT!!! - Telegraph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"injectable robots that can monitor the body's tissues for good health."
i think they are getting just a little bit ahead of themselves on that one - sarahb459, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ok... u ignorant ass... That was to prove that it can be manipulated however they need to... He figured out the technique, so now other companies can pay him to design it towards their specific needs... like drug delivery or whatever...
Think science + business! - superdigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1how incredibly useful
ok no i'm just being a wang :( gaddis explained its significance very well. - Edgen22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And before you know it, there will be clouds of nanoparticles. Self-sustaining, self-reproducing, and evolving every second. Then they will escape from a fabrication lab in the middle of the Nevada desert.
- 525600, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hardly a waste of resources. The guy's boss wouldn't have let him go for it if it was expensive or time-consuming. DNA isn't that expensive, and when you have an AFM at your fingertips, go for it...
What's important here is that he's developed the technique. Simple things (yeah, like "hello world") need to be tried before getting too complex. - allenu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, now I can die a happy man. I was worried for a second there, but they came through. Whew. Weight off my shoulders, let me tell you...
- lillydreams, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's good to see the top minds at work. My initial reaction was just befuddlement. Why would anybody even have the desire to do that? I wish I could see the project proposal for that. "Hey, I know we're supposed to be working on nanotech, but lets stop everything and make smiley faces! I'm sure somehow we can claim this advances something important!"
So good that they are working on cages...by making smileys. - gaddis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The significance of this is that you can now use this guy's computer program to determine small "DNA staple" sequences that can be used to pattern standard M13 bacteria DNA clones into ARBITRARY predefined structures. This is a huge development that nanotechnologists have been hoping for. Understand that this is the first example of complex bottom-up assembly by design.
- Rickler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Of course, light wavelenghts humans can see are around 400nm-700nm.
- kramer3d, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1lmao if the human eye could see the real atoms, it world probably look nothing like a smily face
- godfa7h3r, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Sad but true...
- Klowner, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2hopefully they'll include these DNA smiley faces on the walmart RFID tags
- CardinalFang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1But how is this supposed to help people?
- esangaline, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3lollerskates - ever heard of a scanning tunnelling electron microscope? This picture sort of looks like it was taken with one and that is 100% uncertainty principle.
- brandizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Wow...all of the kidding aside this is actually pretty amazing.
- Runik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Head Scientist : Gentlemen I hear you have made a break though
Nano Scientist : Yes Sir we have .. this is one for the history books
Nano Scientist 2 : I present to you what we have accomplished
* Smiley DNA is shown *
Head Scientist : . . .
Nano Scientist : Years of preparing and education
Nano Scientist 2 : So what do you think ?
Head Scientist : BRILLIANT !!
Nano Scientist : We best stop fooling around and find a cure for cancer now . - sublimethinker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I for one welcome our new nano smiley-face overlords.
- nater, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0did you see that Outer Limits episode of the more recent series where they do that? The guy ends up with gills and crap cuz the robots go haywire, it was so AWESOME! I WANT GILLS TOO! ;D
- lollerskates, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Well, this could lead the way for new tech dealing with nanotechnology. Or something. You guys are right, this seems totally pointless.
- kashi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2this is where are tax money go ... to scientists who can FINALLY release smiley face made of DNA.... makes me wanna ask the government for tax increase... maybe if they get more funds they can make a sad face... cannot wait
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Won't they be sued by whoever claims ownership of the smiley face?
- Psykus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Exactly, this is a non-story really, or more accurately a dupe.
A picture of the smiley face, BUT SHADED YELLOW, NEW DIGG STORY. -
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