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ADVANCES IN AUTOMATION
1.Miniature machines
Cambridge UK scientists are attempting to cut groves in silicon chips just wide enough to contain one molecule of DNA. If successful it would mean that a hand-held device using such chips could be programmed to read the entire sequence of human DNA. Such computers could, for example, be built to identify causes of any sudden infectious diseases with a diagnosis obtained in minutes rather than in the days it could take using present-day technology. The report of these researches suggests that the whole process could then be a more controlled one with the readings taken being more precise. A comparison with current channel cutting methods was also given. Apparently, channels in a chip are normally cut to a measure of millionths of a metre, whilst the Cambridge researchers are now down to 100 millionth of a metre and confidently hope to achieve 10 billionths of a metre.
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- © 2000 Cambridge University Press
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