🔒 Nanotechnology: between DNA origami and gray goo
Back in 1986, when E. Drexler was scaring the world with the idea of “gray goo”—self-replicating nanobots devouring the biosphere after being accidentally released into the environment—it was hard to imagine that 40 years later the hottest trend in nanotechnology would be… folding DNA like Japanese origami.
This material was created in collaboration with Nowa Fantastyka.
Drexler, often called the father of nanotechnology, described in his book “Engines of Creation” a scenario in which molecular assemblers could replicate uncontrollably, but today, instead of building armies of microscopic robots, scientists would rather tinker at the molecular level.
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