TL;DR
The molecule that stores the instructions for life can also be folded into machines and wired into computers. This year, a team in Germany built a syringe out of DNA that pokes through a cell's outer membrane, delivers a payload and pulls back out. A team in Ireland built a DNA computer that solves math problems in a drop of salt water, with no power supply, and does it reliably across hundreds of runs. Put those together and the old dream of tiny machines that travel the body, decide what to do and deliver medicine to exactly the right cell starts to look like an engineering path rather than science fiction. The honest distance is long: the syringe has only worked on artificial cells, and the computer took up to 14 hours to add two big numbers.
Below the line, for paid subscribers: The full story: where it stands, how we got here and what's dated next; our Odds board on 4 milestones, starting with "The DNA nanosyringe is tested in living cells by 2028"; and every source.