The next stage for data storage could lie in the magic of DNA after researchers from Switzerland and Israel managed to use DNA to store and print out 3D models of rabbits.
It is estimated that DNA holds information up to 10 million times more efficiently than even our best silicon attempts.
DNA stands the test of time. The information is passed on accurately down to the billionth data unit over hundreds of millions of years. It is possible and unfortunate for the organism that has to bear this burden, but DNA copying rarely does go wrong and there are seldom mistakes.
DNA can be extracted from the bones of wooly mammoths that died tens of thousands of years ago in the Siberian tundra, with their genome completely intact still to this day and readable by scientists in their entirety. All the information that you would require to build a sophisticated ice-age beast weighing several ton is there. A single gram of DNA is enough to hold nearly 1 billion terabytes of information.
One may also wonder about the potential issues regarding copyright law and protecting patents, if every object easily has the code to reproduce more of itself. However, thinking of such safeguards for what is now still an exciting, but very experimental concept, is a long way away. This does not mean however, that it could any less revolutionary.
Source: China Daily
