Harvard researchers successfully encoded an entire book on strands of DNA and were able to read it back. By translating binary code into combinations of the 4 types of nucleic acids that make up DNA, the team converted the digital book into 55,000 strands, so that billions of copies could fit in a single test tube and last for centuries. The possibilities of DNA as data storage mean a device as small as your thumb could contain as much information as the entire internet.
In other news, pop-up hotels are all the rage, and Netflix now auto-streams the next episode before the current one is finished. See the headlines after the jump.
• Future of Data: Encoded in DNA | The Wall Street Journal
• Pop Up Goes the Luxe Hotel | The Wall Street Journal
• Netflix's New Post-Play Feature Is Like Chain-Smoking For "Lost" Fans | Fast Company
(Image: Kelvin Ma for the Wall Street Journal)
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DNA stores information in 4 types of nucleotides, making them nucleic acids, not proteins. Since there are 4 "states" in nucleic acids (A T G C) instead of the 2 binary states (1 or 0), nucleic acids are actually twice as efficient at storage in terms of design :)
nucleotides
Corrected. Thanks for the science lesson! I'm obviously a little rusty :)
Actually, because A always pairs with T (or U in RNA), and G with C, the only possible states of DNA (not RNA), a two-stranded molecule, are AT and GC, making it in effect binary.
If you believe in ancient genetic engineering done by extraterrestrials, then it should be noted that all the answers to our questions are engrained within us. No monolithic monument could be more durable than the very substance that identifies who we are.
I followed the link to the Wall Street Journal article.
I'm amazed and thrilled. Isn't science wonderful.