In a tour de force demonstration of crystal engineering, Professor Nadrian C. Seeman and coworkers have designed a 3D DNA crystal from scratch, a project conceived nearly three decades ago that along he way has given rise to the burgeoning discipline of DNA nanotechnology. In worked described in Nature, 2009, 461, 74 (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7260/full/nature08274.html) NYU researchers and colleagues from Purdue University and Argonne National Labs synthesized three different oligonucleotide strands which that were designed with sticky ends to assemble as an a trigonal “tensegrity” network. When combined, they yielded the prescribed rhombehdral crystals. Despite Seeman’s training as a biomolecular crystallographer, the work represents the first time the DNA materials designers succeeded in making a macroscopic substance that could be analyzed by the traditional techniques of X-ray crystallography. The work represents crystal design at its most daring since the structure has no precedent.