If that sounds like there's a bit of work to do yet on the theory, there is. According to current information, there's a lot of good chemical reasons why it shouldn't be able to do what it does.

DNA is a big molecule. It’s complex, and by molecular standards, it’s huge. How it fits together is a little relevant, too.

So far they’ve found out that they haven’t found out much.

From Xinhua:

“Scientists investigated double-stranded DNA tagged with fluorescent compounds. These molecules were placed in saltwater that contained no proteins or other material that could interfere with the experiment or help the DNA molecules communicate. Curiously, DNA with identical sequences of bases were roughly twice as likely to gather together as DNA molecules with different sequences.

The known interactions that draw the bases together are not the factor bringing these double helixes close. Double helixes of DNA keep their bases on their insides. On their outsides, they have highly electrically charged chains of sugars and phosphates, which obscure the forces that pull bases together.”

Meaning that both the “opposites attract and likes repel" theory and direct chemical attraction don’t happen.

Sugars and phosphates are very chemically active, and they’re not kidding when they say that they “obscure” other charges. If you’ve noticed how ferociously sugar bonds to things like metals, that’s exactly how powerful sugar’s active charges are.

It also means there's no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does. It's theoretically impossible, chemically.

So far the best reason they’ve come up with is a morphological fit, really “the right pegs in the right holes. Telepathy’s as good an idea as any, at this stage.

The important thing here is that this form of genetic sorting might have a lot of uses, explaining how genetic errors, aging, and some health problems occur.

Defective or damaged genes are considered likely culprits for a variety of preventable conditions. If this sorting method is what’s supposed to happen, it’ll be pretty easy to identify when things aren’t happening properly.

This is a milestone of another sort. In 1953, after five decades of study and conjecture, how DNA replicated itself was finally understood.

Since then, DNA has led science on a wild ride through whole concepts which never previously existed.

Fifty years ago, genetics was an academic subject, lurking in obscure research labs. Nobody could actually do anything with genes except add chromosomes to fruit flies and see what happened. The whole idea of a genetic heritage was based on that, and some deep thought about eye color and recessive genes.

Now, just over a century after the identification of chromosomes, with science achieving more in research in a day than in whole previous decades, genes are producing new ideas even more baffling than the originals.

There’s going to be a lot of very happy researchers, if Physorg.com’s forum is any indicator.

Physorg now describes the process as "...once regarded as impossible".

This is the kind of challenge scientists can't resist.

Don’t be surprised if someone comes up with a simple genetic switch that can un-age people, or rebuild whole organs.

Looks like the fun’s just starting.