November 23, 2001	Friday	Ramazan 7, 1422

AL QUDS, Nov 22: Israeli researchers said on Thursday they had succeeded in creating a microscopic organic computer, capable of running elementary programmes on the basis of DNA molecules.

The computer is so tiny that a drop of water measuring one tenth of a millimetre could contain a trillion of them.

“It’s the first time a computer so small has been created,” said programme director Ehud Shapiro, of the Weizmann Institute near Tel Aviv.

He said each such machine is capable of operating 765 elementary programmes at the same time.

Researcher Zvi Livni said that while the nano-computer is too small to yet have practical applications, it may pave the way for future computers that can operate with the human body, sense chemical abnormalities and release medications.

The results of the research were published in the latest edition of the science magazine Nature. —AFP