Using DNA as a sort of Velcro, two separate teams of scientists have created what may be the first nanomaterials that assemble themselves into ordered 3-D structures. The techniques may enable the creation of crystals with novel properties.
![DNA strands link gold nanospheres in ordered arrangements to create a new type of crystal.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/7471.jpg?resize=150%2C140&ssl=1)
Using the propensity of DNA’s chemical bases to bind to their ideal complements—A with T, C with G—researchers had previously put DNA to work to self-assemble into orderly 2-D arrangements or chaotic 3-D lumps.