DNA nanotechnology is the design and manufacture of technologically
useful macromolecules using nucleic acids, the building blocks of DNA.
In living cells, DNA is the carrier of genetic information. In the lab,
strands of nucleic acids can spontaneously bind to form strong, rigid
double helix structures with precisely controlled nanoscale features.
Two- and three-dimensional crystal lattices, nanotubes, polyhedra, and
various functional devices have been created. Tiles of nucleic acids can
be assembled into larger units. Artificial DNA structures have been used
to solve basic science problems in structural biology, biophysics and
X-ray crystallography, and have helped identify protein structures
through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Potential applications
in molecular scale electronics and nanomedicine are being investigated.
The conceptual foundation for DNA nanotechnology was first laid out by
Nadrian Seeman in the early 1980s, and the field began to attract
widespread interest in the mid-2000s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_nanotechnology>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1594:
Sinhalese–Portuguese War: Portugal had almost conquered the
island of Sri Lanka when its army was completely annihilated, ending the
Campaign of Danture.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_of_Danture>
1874:
The Universal Postal Union, then known as the General Postal
Union, was established with the signing of the Treaty of Bern to unify
disparate postal services and regulations so that international mail
could be exchanged freely.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union>
1942:
World War II: American forces defeated the Japanese at the
Third Battle of the Matanikau in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, avenging
the Japanese victory a couple of weeks earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_along_the_Matanikau>
2012:
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was gravely injured by a
Taliban gunman in a failed assassination attempt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai>
2016:
Militants attacked a border police post in Myanmar, triggering
a period of intense persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_persecution_in_Myanmar_(2016%E2%80%93present)>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
oche:
(darts) A line behind which a player's front foot must be placed when
throwing a dart.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oche>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
You say you want a revolution, Well, you know, we all want to
change the world... But when you talk about destruction, Don't you know
that you can count me out.
--John Lennon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lennon>