"Computer" from bacterial sort taught pancakes
American scientists have been able to genetically modified form of intestinal sticks "living computer" that can solve a mathematical problem of classical podgorevshih pancakes.
The problem of pancakes is as follows. There is a certain amount podgorevshih the one hand pancakes, folded into the pile. All of them vary in size and are placed in random order. Required for the minimum number of operations to sort the pile so that all the pancakes were rotated podgorevshey side down and placed in the order from the largest (bottom) to the smallest (top). For one step and allowed to be reversed by one or more of the ongoing row pancakes.
According to ScienceDaily, in research to create a "living computer" was attended by specialists Davidson College and the University of Missouri under the leadership Karmelly Heyns. The role of pancakes for the experiment played snippets of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and their coup carried out genetically modified intestinal bacillus (Escherichia coli). After the "biological computer" to build all the DNA fragments in the right order, bacteria acquire resistance to antibiotics. Time needed to find the correct decision in this case reflects the minimum required number of operations to complete the task.
Scientists note that "biological computers theoretically could provide some significant advantages over traditional electronic computing systems. Indeed, in a small flask can simultaneously contain billions of bacteria operating in the "calculations" multiple copies of DNA. As a result, thanks to implement the vast number of parallel operations "Bacterial computers will be able to cope with the required task much faster traditional systems. Moreover, the bacteria can evolve over time and use the mechanisms of self.
The command Karmelly Heyns published in the journal Journal of Biological Engineering.