Will we one day use Biological Data Storage as a norm?

Question

Recently a bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard University managed to store 700TB of data into a single gram of DNA, but theoretically you could store up to 1 Zettabyte onto a single gram of DNA 1ml in volume.

(Here's the article: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134672-harvard-cracks-dna-storage-crams-700-terabytes-of-data-into-a-single-gram)

So, do you think one day this bio-storage will become mainstream and replace magnetic drives in the computing world? I think it'd be a great idea. Imagine, just a drop of DNA could hold all your data for life. The DNA storage can even be put into a skin cell (For a short amount of time). Just imagine the possibilities of having that much data in such a small space. Today you'd need 233 2TB drives weighing over 150KG to fit what the fit on to a single gram of DNA.

How it works (Basically):

alt text

I for one this this is absolutely amazing and definitely think that this will one day become the standard for storing digital data. In the video he says that it's possible to store the entire internet (All 1.8 Zettabytes of it) on to 4 grams of DNA. All of it. I think that's incredible!

Do you think this will one day be the standard? Also, what possibilities can you invision that use this technology?

- Matt

Answer 1

0

Maybe in a slightly different context. There's a lot of speculation about devices being integrated into our biology. In consideration of the "Singularity"; the strength of this notion is that we either become it or compete with it.

answered Aug 17 '12 at 18:38

ClosetFuturist
1.7k●6●14●27

What exactly do you mean?

(Aug 18 '12 at 01:07) Mattophobia ♦♦

I mean I think it will be common but through becoming biotics as opposed to building them.

(Aug 18 '12 at 01:29) ClosetFuturist

Answer 2

0

I didn't read the article, but I would imagine it wouldn't be stored on us, but there would be a modified piece of tissue or something in a box, for some reason, I'm picturing something like a dalek, no clue why, but what ever. But the box would contain the data, modifying our own DNA, to store information a little risky, don't you think, what if the nucleus[5th grade biology coming back to me now] containing the DNA decides to split the cell, and since its not data we can use, or if it just happens to decode into (our body's source code, par say) something bad, its like having 2 operating systems that have similar forms of batch, I'm making it up but say

shutdown -f in OS a means shutdown and end all running applications
shutdown -f in )S b means shutdown and format drive

What if the cell then mutates using the DNA in the cell and then becomes like a cancerous mass of cells , Am I making sense or have I been watching too many sci-fi related things...

answered Aug 18 '12 at 01:50

pjob797
2.6k●38●49●82

Perhaps you should have read the article!

The DNA is stored in liquid, so it'd be a little bit of liquid in a small tube or something.

You couldn't and wouldn't modify your own DNA, the concept is you could simply insert the digital DNA into one of your cells for a short amount of time. The creators say it could be a good use for security purposes.

(Aug 18 '12 at 10:14) Mattophobia ♦♦

I'll read it now, didn't really want to at 1 am...

(Aug 19 '12 at 12:57) pjob797

Ah so they do put it in a sort of box, not necessarily in living cells, and maybe it could be used, in living cells, as ID=, all the info about your self passwords, social security number, birth certificate, passport, drivers licence, etc, etc, and I'm sure they could eventually make it stable as a more permanent living cell, but another question that come to mind is, How do they extract the data from living cells? Even from the cells in their box?

(Aug 19 '12 at 13:03) pjob797

Will we one day use Biological Data Storage as a norm?

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