Originally Posted by RuGlu6
(Post 470039)
Article by Michael Tellinger
In February 2008, Science Daily reported an astonishing achievement by scientists from Northwestern University and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
The report said the following: DNA is the blueprint of all life, giving instruction and function to organisms ranging from simple one-celled bacteria to complex human beings. Now researchers report they have used DNA as the blueprint, to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, a lifeless material.
What these guys basically did was to use DNA as the foundation or backbone to build a living organic structure of their own design, made up of nano-particles of gold. By programming the DNA to take on a specific shape, and immersing it in a solution of nano-particles of gold, which are 15 nanometres in diameter, the gold attaches itself to the DNA in very specific positions to give it form and strength.
They report that each gold nano-particle has multiple strands of DNA attached to its surface so the nano-particle binds in many directions, resulting in a three-dimensional structure of a new golden organic crystal. One sequence of linker DNA, programmed by the researchers, resulted in one type of golden crystal structure while a different sequence of linker DNA resulted in a different structure. This means that we can now effectively program DNA to form any shape we need it to be, to perform various functions in industry and science – including space travel.
In fact, it can be called a living organic crystal, because any break or fracture that occurs is immediately corrected by the DNA backbone, as it automatically reconstitutes itself. But we are not restricted to gold nano-particles. We can basically use nano-particles of any substance we choose, to create a different look and feel of the finished product. Copper, aluminium, silica, etc.
Furthermore, a multitude of building blocks of different sizes can be used – with different composition. Gold, silver and fluorescent particles, for example, and different shapes – like spheres, rods, cubes and triangles. Controlling the distance between the nano-particles is also key to the structure's function. “Once you get good at this you can build anything you want,” said Chad A. Mirkin, director of Northwestern's International Institute for Nanotechnology.
It is all so simple once you think about it. The scientists can program the DNA to take on a different shape. A different DNA sequence in the strand resulted in the formation of a different crystal shape formation. The researchers say that it’s like building a house. Starting with basic materials, the construction team can build many different types of houses out of the same building blocks and different materials.
The technique is a major and fundamental step toward building functional "designer" materials using programmable self-assembly materials (DNA), and was published in the journal Nature on 31 January 2008, reflecting more than a decade of work. It is reported that this new discovery will allow scientists to take inorganic materials and build structures with specific properties for a given application, such as therapeutics, biodiagnostics, optics, electronics or catalysis. But I see a much more exciting prospect here – In the area of space travel.
The novel part of the work is that the researchers use DNA to drive the assembly of the crystal. Changing the DNA strand's sequence of As, Ts, Gs and Cs changes the blueprint, and thus the shape, of the organic-crystalline structure. The two crystals reported in Nature, were both made of gold, and have different properties because the particles are arranged differently.
I find this report absolutely amazing because many people now know that GOLD is not a lifeless material and that GOLD has been the obsession humans and their gods since the garden of Eden. And since we also know that gold can be virtually an inexhaustible source of energy in its mono-atomic state, we could be on the verge of creating an indestructible, biological craft that can travel through space for ever, because of the material from which it is constructed… nano-particles of gold.
It took scientists decades of work to learn how to synthesize DNA. “Now we've learned how to use the synthesized form outside the body to arrange lifeless matter into things that are useful. We are now closer to the dream of learning, as nano-scientists, how to break everything down into fundamental building blocks, which for us are nano-particles, and reassembling them into whatever structure we want that gives us the properties needed for certain applications," said Mirkin.
“DNA is the stabilizing force, the glue that holds the structure together. These structures are a new form of matter, that would be difficult, if not impossible, to make any other way” he added.
Now imagine a spaceship made up of gold nano-particles and DNA – which is basically indestructible, and can travel throughout space forever, as it uses the mono-atomic form of the golden structure, for its source of energy. Very exciting prospect indeed, and I would not be surprised if the black-ops, or secret space bodies behind NASA are not already working on this.
Keep exploring
Michael Tellinger
In addition to Mirkin and Schatz, other authors and researchers are Sung Yong Park, a former postdoctoral fellow in Schatz's lab and now at the University of Rochester (lead author); graduate student Abigail K. R. Lytton-Jean, Northwestern University; Byeongdu Lee, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory; and Steven Weigand, Northwestern's DND-CAT Synchrotron Research Center at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source.
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