DNA nanotechnology is the design and manufacture of artificial nucleic acid structures for technological uses. In this field, nucleic acids such as DNA are used as non-biological engineering materials for nanotechnology rather than as the carriers of genetic information in living cells. Researchers in the field have created static structures such as crystal lattices, nanotubes, polyhedra, and arbitrarily shaped DNA origami; as well as functional structures including molecular machines and DNA computers. The conceptual foundation for DNA nanotechnology was first laid out in the early 1980s, and the field began to attract widespread interest in the mid-2000s. The field is beginning to be used as a tool to solve basic science problems in structural biology and biophysics, such as protein structure determination, and potential real-world applications in nanomedicine and molecular scale electronics are under development.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_nanotechnology
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1842:
American Indian Wars: American general William J. Worth declared the Second Seminole War to be over. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Seminole_War
1888:
A recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's The Lost Chord (audio clip right), one of the first recordings of music ever made, was played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Chord
1994:
International fugitive Carlos the Jackal, wanted for a number of terrorist attacks in Europe, was handed over to French agents by Sudanese officials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_the_Jackal
2005:
Helios Airways Flight 522 crashed into a mountain north of Marathon and Varnava, Greece, killing all 121 on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522
2010:
The inaugural Youth Olympic Games opened in Singapore for athletes between 14 and 18 years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_Olympic_Games
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
teenybopper: A person, especially a female, in her early teens who follows popular clothing fashions, music trends, and the like. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/teenybopper
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Come! Let us lay a lance in rest, And tilt at windmills under a wild sky! For who would live so petty and unblest That dare not tilt at something ere he die; Rather than, screened by safe majority, Preserve his little life to little end, And never raise a rebel cry! --John Galsworthy https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Galsworthy