FUTURE COMPUTERS MAY BE DNA-BASED

We've all heard our brain likened to a computer. But professor Jian-Jun Shu and his students at Nanyang Technical University are taking that comparison quite literally.

Shu and his team at the university's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have proposed a way to use DNA strands for computing operations.

Their article “DNA-Based Computing of Strategic Assignment Problems,” was recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Shu points out that the human body performs computations that are naturally more faster than even the fastest silicon-based computer.

"No matter how fast tomorrow's conventional silicon-based computer can become," their article states,"in order to solve specific classes of problems, it may take the fastest silicon-based computer months or even years to process the calculations. This is mainly due to the serial computing nature of the conventional silicon-based computer."

So Shu and his students manipulated stands of DNA at the test-tube level. They found that they could fuse strands together, cut them and perform operations that would affect DNA's ability to store information.

“Silicon-based computing relies on a binary system,” Shu told PhysOrg.com. “With DNA-based computing, you can do more than have ones and zeroes. DNA is made up of A, G, C, T, which gives it more range. DNA-based computing has the potential to deal with fuzzy data, going beyond digital data.”

Shu says that DNA-based computing is currently in the most elementary stages and that more human manipulations must be done.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/future-computers-may-be-dna-based-110521.html

yea... assasins creed is a game with the same premise...

Dr. Vidic: "Our DNA functions as an archive. It contains not only genetic instructions passed down from previous generations, but memories as well. The memories of our ancestors."
Desmond: "And the Animus lets you decode and read these DNA files."
―Vidic explaining genetic memory concept to Desmond.[src]
Genetic memory is the controversial theory that the memories of one's ancestors are genetically passed on to subsequent generations. In the Assassin's Creed universe, genetic memory exists, and plays a critical role in the plot.

The TheoryEdit"What if I told you the human body not only housed an individual's memories, but the memories of his ancestors as well? Genetic memory, if you will. Migration, hibernation, reproduction. How do animals know when and where to go? What to do?"
―Warren Vidic[src]
The theory of genetic memory is controversial. Proponents point out examples of what seem to be genetic memory happening in reality in the animal kingdom.

Such examples include birds knowing where to migrate in the winter, and other forms of what might otherwise be known as "animal instinct". However, the mechanism for the preservation of memories in DNA has not been found.

There are still many flaws and holes in this theory, such as if the memory continues after the ancestor's child is born, or if it abruptly stops there and doesn't progress any farther down the family tree.

The AnimusEditMain article: Animus
The Animus, a machine used in Assassin's Creed to decode genetic memory.
Added by ElecbulletIn the world of Assassin's Creed, genetic memory exists. The Animus is a machine developed to read a subject's genetic memory, and, from it, create a simulation of the ancestor's life with which the subject can interact; in essence, the subject is "playing" as the ancestor in video game terms.

In Assassin's Creed, the Animus is used by Abstergo Industries on Desmond Miles to decode the memories of his ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, who lived during the Third Crusade. In Assassin's Creed II, it is again used upon Desmond, this time to learn about his later ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who lived during the Renaissance. Before Desmond, Abstergo had already used the Animus on 16 different subjects.

In the second game, Desmond's dream of Altaïr explains that the point at which the genetic memories of an ancestor are passed on is the moment of conception of the next descendant. Naturally, the moment of another ancestor's conception is the moment where all genetic traits are then passed on, and line continues.

In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Desmond uses the Animus 2.0 at the Assassins' Hideout in the Sanctuary to view the second half of Ezio's life.