Research findings obtained over the past decades increasingly indicate that stored memories are coded as permanent changes of neuronal communciation and the strength of neuronalinterconnections. The learning process evokes a specific pattern of electrical activity in these cells, which influences the response behavior to incoming signals, the expression of genes and the cellular morphology beyond the learning process itself.

Researcher Marie Hjelmseth Aune at CEMIR, the Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, looks at a macrophage engulfing an invading bacterium. The human immune system is a powerful and wonderful creation. If you cut your skin, your body mobilizes a series of different proteins and cells to heal the cut. If you are infected by a virus or bacteria, your immune system responds with a series of cells that attack the invader and neutralize it.

DNA, the molecular foundation of life, has new tricks up its sleeve. The four bases from which it is composed snap together like jigsaw pieces and can be artificially manipulated to construct endlessly varied forms in two and three dimensions. The technique, known as DNA origami, promises to bring futuristic microelectronics and biomedical innovations to market.