A team from Maynooth University has developed a molecular computer capable of adding, multiplying, and dividing using DNA strands in water. The breakthrough, announced on September 16 and published in *Nature*, explores a form of computing that does not require a continuous power supply during calculations.
The procedure combines water, salt, and DNA fragments with a longer molecular structure. After heating and cooling the mixture, the molecules assemble; the resulting structure represents the answer.
The researchers tested ten programs, including 100-bit operations. A sum of 10 plus 3 took thirty seconds; operations involving much larger numbers took up to fourteen hours. The system could be reused for 25 consecutive calculations.
These devices are still much slower than silicon. Their value lies in exploring other ways to process information and potential molecular applications within cells. The latter remain a research prospect, not a clinically available tool.
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