Eric Drexler discusses “vaults” – tiny structures present in the cells of every plant and animal:
Like ribosomes, they’re atomically precise self-assembled structures made of protein and RNA, but they’re big and hollow, large enough to pack many ribosomes inside.
…
Looking forward, this information could help protein engineers develop methodologies for designing large self-assembling structures.
Vaults are unusual in many ways, but what I find most surprising about them is this:
To this day, no one knows what they do.
Mmm. A nanoscopic biological structure of unknown purpose and potential technological utility: I smell MacGuffin…
I smell midi-chlorians!