Scientists in Jerusalem have created a 'biological computer' small enough to fit inside a drop of water.
It uses enzymes as hardware and DNA molecules as software.
The nanocomputer contains a trillion living cells and it is hoped such a device may one day act as an automatic doctor inside patients.
The device's creators say the trillion cells, acting together, can perform a billion operations per second, with 99.8% accuracy. The trillion cells require less than a billionth of a watt of power to operate.
Researchers were lead by Professor Ehud Shapiro, at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
He said: "The living cell contains incredible molecular machines that manipulate information-encoding molecules - in ways that are fundamentally very similar to computation."
Although the nanocomputer doesn't have any practical use at the moment, scientists say it has enormous potential.
"Such a future computer could sense an abnormal biochemical change in the body and decide how to correct it by synthesising and releasing the necessary drug," said Professor Zvi Livneh, a DNA expert at the Weizm.
PA