Our increasingly digitized world has a data storage problem. Hard drives and other storage media are reaching their limits, and we are creating data faster than we can store it. Fortunately, we don't have to look too far for a solution, because nature already has a powerful storage medium with DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). It is this genetic material that Xingyu Jiang at the Southern University of Science and Technology in China and colleagues are using to create DNA storage cassettes.
DNA is the ultimate data storage solution because it is compact, dense and durable. It can hold an enormous amount of information in a microscopic space and preserve that data for thousands of years without needing electricity. Theoretically, the DNA in a single human cell has a capacity of approximately 3.2 gigabytes, which equates to roughly 6,000 books, 1,000 pieces of music or two movies.
Scientists have known about DNA's potential as a storage solution for a long time, but the challenge up until now has been to create a viable system that we can use. In a new study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers describe how they made a DNA cassette similar to cassette tapes that were staples in personal and car stereos in the 1980s.
To read more, click here.