LakeGator
08-22-2012, 06:40 AM
This article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444233104577593291643488120.html) has an interesting discussion of using DNA to store data. Based on the article it looks like the memory density of using DNA is incredibly high. The approach isn’t anywhere close to being commercial but interesting, nonetheless.
In the latest effort to contend with exploding quantities of digital data, researchers encoded an entire book into the genetic molecules of DNA, the basic building block of life, and then accurately read back the text.
The experiment, reported Thursday in the journal Science, may point a way toward eventual data-storage devices with vastly more capacity for their size than today's computer chips and drives.
"A device the size of your thumb could store as much information as the whole Internet," said Harvard University molecular geneticist George Church, the project's senior researcher.
In their work, the group translated the English text of a coming book on genomic engineering into actual DNA.
In the latest effort to contend with exploding quantities of digital data, researchers encoded an entire book into the genetic molecules of DNA, the basic building block of life, and then accurately read back the text.
The experiment, reported Thursday in the journal Science, may point a way toward eventual data-storage devices with vastly more capacity for their size than today's computer chips and drives.
"A device the size of your thumb could store as much information as the whole Internet," said Harvard University molecular geneticist George Church, the project's senior researcher.
In their work, the group translated the English text of a coming book on genomic engineering into actual DNA.