While it is likely that getting such a computer to function inside a living cell remains some way off, the remarkably rapid progress of biological computers in controlled lab conditions means that that distant day looks to be getting closer.

ECONOMIST: A biological computer diagnoses and treats cancer

While Friendster has sputtered out in the U.S. (it's a distant runner-up to social networking groups like Facebook and MySpace, controlled by U.S. billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Rupert Murdoch, respectively) it is doing well in Asia, where 90% of its daily site traffic originates.

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