DNA computation has emerged as a promising approach to solving complex mathematical problems. However, it remains difficult to simultaneously monitor hundreds and thousands of reactions in a tube. A quantitative understanding of the functional landscape of a biochemical circuit can reveal the design rules required to optimize the circuit. Now, a high-throughput droplet-based microfluidic platform has been developed which enables high-resolution mapping of bifurcation diagrams for two nonlinear DNA networks. Chunhai Fan in the Division of Physical Biology at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS was invited to write a News& View’s article in Nature Chemistry .