Last week Daedalus proposed piezoelectric catalysts, whose surfaces or cavities could be set into intense controlled vibration. Reagent molecules were adsorbed during the expansion phase; contraction brought them together to induce reaction; on the subsequent re-expansion the product molecule was set free.

He now muses that nature may have got there first. Enzymes, those amazingly specific biological catalysts, have extremely subtle surfaces. Only one molecule, or pair of molecules, can fit on a given surface; and their resulting reaction is extremely well defined. Daedalus reckons that the vibrational modes of the enzyme molecule must play a crucial part in its action.

All molecules, of course, can be excited into vibration by radiation of the right frequency. But only quite low-frequency modes, corresponding to wavelengths longer than about 0.05 mm in the far infrared, can be significantly excited merely by ambient temperature. And this, says Daedalus, explains why so many enzymes are such needlessly complicated molecules, very large compared with their active catalytic sites. An enzyme molecule has to be big and heavy, so as to have vibrational modes low enough to be usefully excited at body heat.

This train of thought has sparked two new DREADCO projects. The first and simpler is to irradiate yeast fermentations, penicillin production, sugar inversion and other well-known enzyme reactions, with intense beams of tuned far-infrared and millimetre-wave radiation, looking for sudden rises in output or changes of product. The active frequency will reveal the key vibrational mode of the enzyme. If enzyme reactions can indeed be accelerated or directed by well-judged irradiation, biotechnology will be transformed.

The second project is the creation of ‘stripped down’ enzyme molecules, equipped with active catalytic sites but without the surrounding heavy protein chains. Their vibrational modes will be much higher, in the mid- and near-infrared. When irradiated at these higher frequencies, they will churn out the product a lot faster; and they can be switched off simply by turning off the radiation. Again, the biotechnology industry should snap up the technique. Daedalus is also devising special diathermy machines and infrared health lamps, cunningly tuned to boost key biochemical reactions in their patients.