ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Paul Rothemund - DNA origamist
Paul Rothemund folds DNA into shapes and patterns. Which is a simple enough thing to say, but the process he has developed has vast implications for computing and manufacturing -- allowing us to create things we can now only dream of.

Why you should listen

Paul Rothemund won a MacArthur grant this year for a fairly mystifying study area: "folding DNA." It brings up the question: Why fold DNA? The answer is -- because the power to manipulate DNA in this way could change the way we make things at a very basic level.

Rothemund's work combines the study of self-assembly (watch the TEDTalks from Neil Gershenfeld and Saul Griffith for more on this) with the research being done in DNA nanotechnology -- and points the way toward self-assembling devices at microscale, making computer memory, for instance, smaller, faster and maybe even cheaper.

More profile about the speaker
Paul Rothemund | Speaker | TED.com
TED2007

Paul Rothemund: Playing with DNA that self-assembles

Paul Rothemund face o vraja cu ADN-ul

Filmed:
471,278 views

Paul Rothemund scrie cod-ul care face ca ADN-ul sa se aranjeze intr-o stea, o fata zambitoare si altele. Desigur, e un tur de forta, dar in acelasi timp e o demonstratie de auto-asamblare la cea mai mica scara -- cu multiple implicatii pentru viitorul crearii lucrurilor.
- DNA origamist
Paul Rothemund folds DNA into shapes and patterns. Which is a simple enough thing to say, but the process he has developed has vast implications for computing and manufacturing -- allowing us to create things we can now only dream of. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:26
There's an ancientvechi and universaluniversal conceptconcept that wordscuvinte have powerputere,
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Exista un concept antic si universal ca toate cuvintele au putere,
00:30
that spellsvrăji existexista, and that if we could only pronouncepronunța the right wordscuvinte,
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ca vrajile exista, si daca am putea doar sa pronuntam cuvintele potrivite,
00:34
then -- whoooshWhooosh -- you know, an avalancheavalanşă would come
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atunci, puuuf! Ar veni o avalansa
00:36
and wipesterge out the hobbitshobbiţi, right? So this is a very attractiveatractiv ideaidee
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si ar omori hobbitii, nu-i asa? Deci asta e o idee foarte atractiva
00:41
because we're very lazyleneş, like the sorcerer'svrăjitor apprenticeucenic,
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pentru ca suntem foarte lenesi, ca ucenicul vrajitorului,
00:43
or the world'slume greatestcea mai mare computercomputer programmerprogramator.
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sau ca cel mai bun programator din lume.
00:45
And so this ideaidee has a lot of tractiontracţiune with us.
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Asa ca, ideea asta ne atrage foarte tare.
00:47
We love the ideaidee that wordscuvinte, when pronouncedpronunţat --
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Ne place ideea ca atunci cand pronuntam cuvintele --
00:49
they're just little more than purepur informationinformație,
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ele sunt un pic mai mult decat informatie pura,
00:51
but they evokeevoca some physicalfizic actionacțiune
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dar evoca o anumita actiune fizica
00:53
in the realreal worldlume that helpsajută us do work.
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in lumea reala, care ne ajuta sa lucram.
00:54
And so, of coursecurs, with lots of programmableprogramabile computerscalculatoare
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Desigur, cu atatea computere programabile
00:57
and robotsroboți around this is an easyuşor thing to pictureimagine.
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si roboti prin jurul nostru, asta e usor de imaginat.
01:00
So how manymulți of you know what I'm talkingvorbind about?
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Deci cati dintre voi stiu despre ce vorbesc?
01:02
RaiseRidica your right handmână. OK. How manymulți of you
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Ridicati mana dreapta. OK. Cati dintre voi
01:03
don't know what I'm talkingvorbind about? RaiseRidica your left handmână.
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nu stiu despre ce vorbesc? Ridicati mana stanga. OK
01:06
So that's great. So that was too easyuşor.
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Bine. Asta e grozav. Deci asta a fost prea usor.
01:09
You guys have very insecurenesigure computerscalculatoare, OK?
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Voi aveti computere foarte nesigure, asa-i?
01:12
So now, the thing is that this is a differentdiferit kinddrăguț of spellvraja.
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Dar asta e un alt tip de vraja.
01:17
This is a computercomputer programprogram madefăcut of zeroszerouri and onescele.
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Asta este un program de calculator format din zero si unu.
01:18
It can be pronouncedpronunţat on a computercomputer. It does something like this.
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Poate fi pronuntat pe un calculator. Face ceva de genul asta.
01:21
The importantimportant thing is we can writescrie it in a high-levelnivel inalt languagelimba.
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Important e ca il putem scrie intr-un limbaj de nivel inalt.
01:23
A computercomputer magicianMagicianul can writescrie this thing.
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Un magician de calculatoare poate scrie asta.
01:26
It can be compiledcompilat into this -- into zeroszerouri and onescele --
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Poate fi compilat in asta -- zero si unu --
01:29
and pronouncedpronunţat by a computercomputer.
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si pronuntat de un calculator.
01:30
And that's what makesmărci computerscalculatoare powerfulputernic:
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Si asta e ce le face pe calculatoare puternice:
01:32
these high-levelnivel inalt languageslimbi that can be compiledcompilat.
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aceste limbaje de nivel inalt care pot fi compilate.
01:34
And so, I'm here to tell you, you don't need a computercomputer
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Asadar, sunt aici sa va spun ca nu ai nevoie de un calculator
01:37
to actuallyde fapt have a spellvraja. In factfapt, what you can do
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pentru a avea o vraja. De fapt, ce poti face
01:40
at the molecularmolecular levelnivel is that if you encodecodifica informationinformație --
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la nivel molecular este ca daca vei codifica informatia --
01:43
you encodecodifica a spellvraja or programprogram as moleculesmolecule --
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vei codifica o vraja sau un program ca molecule --
01:46
then physicsfizică can actuallyde fapt directlydirect interpretinterpreta that informationinformație
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atunci fizica poate interpreta direct aceasta informatie
01:49
and runalerga a programprogram. That's what happensse întâmplă in proteinsproteine.
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si sa deruleze un program. Asta se intampla in proteine.
01:52
When this aminoamino acidacid sequencesecvenţă getsdevine pronouncedpronunţat as atomsatomi,
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Cand aceasta secventa de amino acizi e pronuntata ca atomi,
01:55
these little lettersscrisori are stickylipicios for eachfiecare other.
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aceste litere mici sunt lipicioase una pentru cealalta.
01:57
It collapsesse prăbuşeşte into a three-dimensionaltri-dimensională shapeformă that turnstransformă it into
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Se strange intr-o forma tridimensionala care se transforma intr-o
02:00
a nanomachinenanomachine that actuallyde fapt cutsreduceri DNAADN-UL.
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nanomasina care practic taie ADN.
02:02
And the interestinginteresant thing is that if you changeSchimbare the sequencesecvenţă,
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Si lucrul interesant este ca daca schimbi secventa,
02:05
you changeSchimbare the three-dimensionaltri-dimensională foldingpliere.
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schimbi si impaturirea tridimensionala.
02:07
You get now a DNAADN-UL staplercapsator insteadin schimb. These are the kinddrăguț of
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Obtii acum un capsator ADN in loc. Acestea sunt tipurile
02:10
molecularmolecular programsprograme that we want to be ablecapabil to writescrie,
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de programe moleculare pe care vrem sa fim in stare sa le scriem,
02:12
but the problemproblemă is, we don't know the machinemaşină languagelimba of
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dar problema este ca nu stim limbajul
02:14
proteinsproteine. We don't have a compilercompilator for proteinsproteine.
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proteinelor; nu avem un compilator pentru proteine.
02:17
So I've joinedalăturat a growingcreştere bandgrup of people that try to make
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Deci m-am alaturat unui grup de oameni care incearca sa faca
02:19
molecularmolecular spellsvrăji usingutilizând DNAADN-UL. We use DNAADN-UL because it's cheapermai ieftin.
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vraji moleculare utilizand ADN. Folosim ADN pentru ca e mai ieftin.
02:23
It's easierMai uşor to handlemâner. It's something that we understanda intelege really well.
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E mai usor de manipulat. E ceva ce intelegem foarte bine.
02:25
We understanda intelege it so well, in factfapt, that we think we can actuallyde fapt writescrie
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Il intelegem atat de bine incat credem ca putem chiar sa scriem
02:29
programmingprogramare languageslimbi for DNAADN-UL and have molecularmolecular compilerscompilatoare.
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limbaje de programare pentru ADN si sa avem compilatoare moleculare.
02:32
So then, we think we can do that. And my first questionîntrebare doing this --
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Asadar, putem face asta. Si prima mea intrebare in legatura cu asta --
02:36
or one of my questionsîntrebări doing this -- was how can you make
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sau una din intrebarile mele in legatura cu asta -- era: Cum poti face
02:38
an arbitraryarbitrar shapeformă or patternmodel out of DNAADN-UL? And I decideda decis to use
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o forma oarecare sau un model din ADN? Si am decis sa folosesc
02:41
a typetip of DNAADN-UL origamiOrigami, where you take a long strandStrand of DNAADN-UL
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un fel de ADN origami, unde iei o fasie lunga de ADN
02:44
and foldplia it into whateverindiferent de shapeformă or patternmodel you mightar putea want.
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si o impaturesti in orice forma sau model vrei.
02:47
So here'saici e a shapeformă. I actuallyde fapt spenta petrecut about a yearan in my home,
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Deci asta e o forma. Am petrecut de fapt aproximativ un an acasa,
02:50
in my underwearlenjerie de corp, codingde codificare, like LinusLinus [TorvaldsTorvalds], in that pictureimagine before.
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codand, ca Linus [Torvalds], in imaginea de mai inainte.
02:54
And this programprogram takes a shapeformă, spitsScuipă out 250 DNAADN-UL sequencessecvenţe.
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Si programul asta ia o forma, da nastere la 250 de secvente ADN.
02:57
These shortmic de statura DNAADN-UL sequencessecvenţe are what are going to foldplia the long strandStrand
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Aceste scurte secvente de ADN sunt fasia pe care o sa o impaturim
03:00
into this shapeformă that we want to make. So you sendtrimite an e-maile-mail
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in aceasta forma pe care vrem sa o creem. Asa ca trimiti un email
03:03
with these sequencessecvenţe in it to a companycompanie, and what it does --
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cu aceste secvente in el la o companie, si ce face --
03:07
the companycompanie pronouncesPronunţă them on a DNAADN-UL synthesizersintetizator.
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compania le pronunta cu un sintetizator ADN.
03:09
It's a machinemaşină about the sizemărimea of a photocopierCopiator. And what happensse întâmplă is,
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E o masina cam de marimea unui fotocopiator. Si ce se intampla e ca,
03:12
they take your e-maile-mail and everyfiecare letterscrisoare in your e-maile-mail,
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ei iau email-ul tau si fiecare litera din el,
03:14
they replacea inlocui with 30-atom-atom clustergrup -- one for eachfiecare letterscrisoare,
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il inlocuiesc cu o grupare de 30 de atomi, unul pentru fiecare litera,
03:17
A, T, C, and G in DNAADN-UL. They stringşir them up in the right sequencesecvenţă,
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A, T, C si G in ADN. Le leaga in secventele corecte,
03:21
and then they sendtrimite them back to you viaprin intermediul FedExFedEx.
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si apoi ti le trimit inapoi prin FexEx.
03:23
So you get 250 of these in the mailPoștă in little tubestuburi.
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Asa ca primesti 250 din astea in posta in tuburi mici.
03:25
I mixamesteca them togetherîmpreună, addadăuga a little bitpic of saltsare waterapă,
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Eu le-am amestecat, am adaugat un pic de apa sarata,
03:28
and then addadăuga this long strandStrand I was tellingspune you about,
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si am adaugat aceasta fasie lunga de care va spuneam,
03:30
that I've stolenfurat from a virusvirus. And then what happensse întâmplă is,
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pe care am furat-o de la un virus. Si ceea ce se intampla este ca,
03:33
you heatcăldură this wholeîntreg thing up to about boilingfierbere. You coolmisto it down
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incalzesti toata asta pana aproape de fierbere. O racesti
03:37
to roomcameră temperaturetemperatura, and as you do,
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la temperatura camerei, si pe masura ce faci asta,
03:38
what happensse întâmplă is those shortmic de statura strandsdirecţii de acţiune, they do the followingca urmare a thing:
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ce se intampla e ca fasiile alea scurte, fac urmatorul lucru:
03:41
eachfiecare one of them bindsse leagă that long strandStrand in one placeloc,
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fiecare din ele leaga fasia aia lunga in cate un loc,
03:44
and then has a secondal doilea halfjumătate that bindsse leagă that long strandStrand
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si apoi mai are o jumatate care leaga fasia mare
03:47
in a distantîndepărtat placeloc, and bringsaduce those two partspărți of the long strandStrand
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intr-un loc mai indepartat, si aduce acele doua parti din fasia mare
03:50
closeînchide togetherîmpreună so that they stickbăț togetherîmpreună.
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aproape una de alta, astfel incat se lipesc.
03:52
And so the netnet effectefect of all 250 of these strandsdirecţii de acţiune is to foldplia
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Asadar efectul net al tuturor celor 250 de fasii este sa impatureasca
03:55
the long strandStrand into the shapeformă that you're looking for.
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fasia mare in forma pe care o vrei;
03:59
It'llAcesta va approximateaproximative that shapeformă. We do this for realreal in the testTest tubetub.
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o sa aproximeze forma respectiva. Facem asta in realitate in tub de testare.
04:02
In eachfiecare little dropcădere brusca of waterapă you get 50 billionmiliard of these guys.
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In fiecare picatura de apa obtii 50 de miliarde din acestea.
04:05
You can look with a microscopemicroscop and see them on a surfacesuprafaţă.
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Poti sa te uiti cu un microscop si sa le vezi pe o suprafata.
04:08
And the neatcurat thing is that if you changeSchimbare the sequencesecvenţă
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Si lucrul frumos este ca daca schimbi secventa
04:09
and changeSchimbare the spellvraja, you just changeSchimbare the sequencesecvenţă of the staplescapse.
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si modifici vraja, schimbi pur si simplu secventa capselor.
04:13
You can make a moleculemoleculă that looksarată like this, and, you know,
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Poti face o molecula care sa arate asa, si careia de fapt,
04:16
he likesîi place to hangatârna out with his buddiesamici, right.
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ii place sa stea cu prietenii ei.
04:19
And a lot of them are actuallyde fapt prettyfrumos good.
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Si multe dintre ele sunt chiar reusite.
04:21
If you changeSchimbare the spellvraja again, you changeSchimbare the sequencesecvenţă again.
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Daca schimbi iar vraja, modifici din nou secventa.
04:23
You get really nicefrumos 130 nanometernanometri trianglestriunghiuri. If you do it again,
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Obtii triunghiuri foarte dragute de 130 de nanometri. Daca faci asta din nou,
04:27
you can get arbitraryarbitrar patternsmodele. So on a rectangledreptunghi
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poti obtine modele intamplatoare. Asadar pe un dreptunghi
04:30
you can painta picta patternsmodele of NorthNord and SouthSud AmericaAmerica, or the wordscuvinte, "DNAADN-UL."
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poti desena modele ale Americii de Nord si de Sud, sau literele "ADN".
04:35
So that's DNAADN-UL origamiOrigami. That's one way. There are manymulți waysmoduri
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Asadar asta este ADN origami. Asta e o modalitate. Sunt mai multe modalitati,
04:39
of castingturnare molecularmolecular spellsvrăji usingutilizând DNAADN-UL.
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de a face vraji moleculare folosind ADN.
04:42
What we really want to do in the endSfârşit is learnînvăța how to programprogram
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Ceea ce vrem sa facem in final este sa invatam cum sa programam
04:45
self-assemblyauto-asamblare so that we can buildconstrui anything, right?
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auto-asamblarea, asa incat sa putem construi orice.
04:48
We want to be ablecapabil to buildconstrui technologicaltehnologic artifactsartefacte
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Vrem sa putem construi artefacte tehnologice
04:50
that are maybe good for the worldlume. We want to learnînvăța
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care poate ar fi folositoare pentru omenire. Vrem sa invatam
04:52
how to buildconstrui biologicalbiologic artifactsartefacte, like people and whalesbalene and treescopaci.
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cum sa construim artefacte biologice, ca oameni si balene si copaci.
04:57
And if it's the casecaz that we can reacha ajunge that levelnivel of complexitycomplexitate,
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Si daca vom atinge gradul acela de complexitate,
04:59
if our abilityabilitate to programprogram moleculesmolecule getsdevine to be that good,
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daca abilitatea noastra de a programa molecule ajunge sa fie atat de buna,
05:03
then that will trulycu adevărat be magicmagie. Thank you very much.
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atunci asta va fi cu adevarat magic. Multumesc foarte mult.
05:06
(ApplauseAplauze)
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(Aplauze)
Translated by Alexandra Adela Luca
Reviewed by Brandusa Gheorghe

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Paul Rothemund - DNA origamist
Paul Rothemund folds DNA into shapes and patterns. Which is a simple enough thing to say, but the process he has developed has vast implications for computing and manufacturing -- allowing us to create things we can now only dream of.

Why you should listen

Paul Rothemund won a MacArthur grant this year for a fairly mystifying study area: "folding DNA." It brings up the question: Why fold DNA? The answer is -- because the power to manipulate DNA in this way could change the way we make things at a very basic level.

Rothemund's work combines the study of self-assembly (watch the TEDTalks from Neil Gershenfeld and Saul Griffith for more on this) with the research being done in DNA nanotechnology -- and points the way toward self-assembling devices at microscale, making computer memory, for instance, smaller, faster and maybe even cheaper.

More profile about the speaker
Paul Rothemund | Speaker | TED.com