# Scientists develop living computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-develop-living-computer/450152 "2008-05-21T20:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-develop-living-computer/450152/1 "2008-05-21T20:32:29Z")
From [Science News](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/32352/title/I,_computer): > [@](#): > > Scientists have built the first living computer and tasked it with solving an important problem: flipping pancakes. > > Researchers genetically engineered the bacterium _E. coli_ to coax its DNA into computing a classic mathematical puzzle known as the burned pancake problem. Molecules of DNA have the natural ability to store and process information, and scientists have been performing computations with bare DNA molecules in lab dishes since the mid-1990s. But the new research, reported online in the _Journal of Biological Engineering_, is the first to do DNA computation in living cells. I don’t like the comparison to Pong-era video games. I think it’s better to say that this is like a pre-ENIAC computer: it can be made to work, but the hardware is specialized to one problem at any given time, and reprogramming it is not going to be quick. Still, we know where traditional computers went from there. Now seems like as good a time as any to declare that we are living in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-develop-living-computer/450152/2 "2008-05-21T20:38:45Z")
As a bit of trivia, I’ll mention that Bill Gates’ only published academic paper was on the pancake problem. And [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake_sorting) mentions that Futurama co-creator David Cohen’s most notable academic paper was on the burnt pancake problem. Truly, a highly fertile area of research. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-develop-living-computer/450152/3 "2008-05-21T20:41:20Z")
[Homer Simpson]Mmmmmmmmm, pancakes.[/HS]