Duke University engineer Chris Dwyer has a plan to replace the use of silicon within computers with DNA. The idea is to use DNA to coax circuits into assembling themselves could produce more logic circuits in a single day than the entire global silicon chip industry could produce in a month. Dwyer said that DNA is perfectly suited to pre-programming and self-assembly. He has worked out that by creating and mixing customized snippets of DNA and other molecules, he can create billions of identical, waffle-like structures that can be turned into logic circuits using light rather than electricity as a signalling medium.

What he does is add light-sensitive molecules called chromophores to the structures. These absorb light and get the electrons all excited within. That energy is passed to another chromophore, which uses the energy to emit light of a different wavelength and creates a logic gate. The great thing is that rather than needing electricity the DNA switches can run on light.