2009 AIP Industrial Physics Forum: It took scientists more than twenty years after the first DNA sequencing technology was discovered to sequence the entire human genome; yet our own cells complete this task every time our bodies produces a daughter cell.So to achieve the goal of real time DNA sequencing, Pacific Biosciences had the idea to spy on Mother Nature as she goes to work copying DNA. Now, the company’s commercial device planned to be on the market in 2010, promises to be 20,000 times faster than current second generation technology, with turn around time of about ten minutes rather than ten days.Chief Technology Officer Steve Turner says in four to five years, new technologies promise to rocket this technology forward even further, making it will possible to sequence an entire human genome in fifteen minutes, on a chip that costs less than 100 dollars
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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