FuturePundit: $10 Device Synthesizes DNA: "Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) are widely used to synthesize DNA as part of DNA sequencing work. Dr. Victor Ugaz at Texas A&M University has found a way to speed up the PCR DNA copying process at very low cost.
A pocket-sized device that runs on two AA batteries and copies DNA as accurately as expensive lab equipment has been developed by researchers in the US.
The device has no moving parts and costs just $10 to make. It runs polymerase chain reactions (PCRs), to generate billions of identical copies of a DNA strand, in as little as 20 minutes. This is much faster than the machines currently in use, which take several hours.
The development of cheap miniature devices is the future of biotechnology and is going to do to biotechnology what miniaturization has done to computer technology. Therefore we should expect a huge accelerate of the rate at which biological science advances and the development of very cheap methods of repair of aged bodies."
