DNA "pistons" could power nanoscale robots

While we've been spending our days padding our Xbox 360 Achievements and building castles out of Popsicle sticks, here come some science jerks all making us look bad. Researchers in the UK and Germany have managed to assemble tetrahedrons out of DNA "struts" with some chemical trickery, and then fed the shape DNA "fuel" to get the tetrahedron to contract. Some "anti-fuel" expands the shape again, creating a sort of piston with all sorts of potential. The researchers are currently working to assemble larger structures using the tetrahedrons as building blocks. Possible applications of the technology range from drug delivery to the motors of nanoscale robots, and it sounds like humanity is doomed either way.