Using a relatively simple autocatalytic reaction, researchers in Twente have programmed a chemical reaction network that has memory and can perform logical functions. They report their results in Nature Communications.

When it comes to computing, humanity has followed a predominantly digital path and has become very proficient in this field. But computing goes beyond that and should be generally applicable to both living and inert systems, something Alan Turing himself believed. ‘In my opinion, the true nature of computing can be derived from how living systems communicate and compute with chemical inputs, using logic’, says Associate Professor Albert Wong of the University of Twente. His research group studies chemical reaction networks.