Researchers today unveiled a DNA nanorobot that can track down leukemia cells and kill them on sight, unleashing a therapeutic payload that causes the cancerous cells to self-destruct. Incredibly, this molecular assassin can accomplish this assignment while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Leading researchers in the field of nanotechnology are calling the clam-like bots (which are assembled from the same components that make up your genetic code) a major milestone in the field of smart drugs. This level of praise has been hard-earned, and a long time coming; it’s taken the field of DNA nanotechnology thirty years to get where it is today. Find out how scientists got here, and how DNA nanotechnology — once considered by many to be a pipe dream — is now poised to change the future of medicine and technology forever.

What is DNA Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnologies are materials, structures, or devices intentionally designed by scientists to…