3D-printed DNA Bunny
A 3D-printed rabbit embedded with a DNA-blueprint for printing additional bunnies
A 3D-printed polyester rabbit has been embedded with DNA that contains a blueprint for printing additional bunnies. Using the information, researchers have replicated the rabbit several times, highlighting the potential for using DNA to store information in everyday objects. The plastic bunny was developed by the teams of Robert Grass at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Yaniv Erlich at Erlich Lab, a DNA storage company in Israel. The four DNA bases –adenine (A), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and guanine (G) – were used to encode the 45 kilobyte instructions for making the bunny and the corresponding DNA sequence was then synthesised. “Any potential application is still likely years away, but this study is certain to inspire creative uses we can’t predict right now,” says Calin Plesa, University of Oregon. It's interesting to think of a possible distant future where archaeologists use the DNA embedded in human-made artefacts to learn more about civilisation.