Harvard Cracks DNA Storage

[Gahars]

Huh. Science is kind of funny like that.

Again, science is knowledge, not an entity.
Science isn't "like" anything. It just is.

You've always struck me as the angry "get off my lawn" guy.


Now I know why.

Because I don't believe science is a god?

And anyone here does?

 

[Bladexdsl]

Huh. Science is kind of funny like that.

Again, science is knowledge, not an entity.
Science isn't "like" anything. It just is.

You've always struck me as the angry "get off my lawn" guy.


Now I know why.

Because I don't believe science is a god?

And anyone here does?

tom cruise does

 

[jalaneme]

This thread has me thinking of this horrible old Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie (had Ice-T in it too) called Johnny Mnemonic.

What I'm not understanding though about the significance of this ... is the storage medium some sort of synthetic substance containing synthetic (non-bio) DNA? Otherwise how could it last "for hundreds of thousands of years in a box in your garage?" If the answer is yes, then I guess I'm more impressed by the idea that we can make synthetic DNA than by the amount of data it can store.

i love that movie, it's a classic, we wouldn't even think that this teleology can exist now, i like the internet is used in the movie too.

 

[SifJar]

One thing I don't get is why when there are 4 bases in DNA, each base only represents 1 binary digit. The way I see it, with 4 bases, there is the potential for each base representing 2 binary digits. e.g. Adenine = 00; Thymine = 01; Cytosine = 10; Guanine = 11. As it is, it appears that both Adenine and Cytosine (a and c) represent 0 and Thymine and Guanine (T and G) both represent 1. In my mind, using each base to represent two binary digits should double the storage potential of DNA. Of course, there is probably a good reason for them not doing it this way; better minds than mine have clearly been working on this, they would no doubt have considered it. Perhaps it is as a protection against DNA mutation? (less chance of a mutation actually mattering; e.g. if an a base is mutated, there is a 1 in 3 chance it will still have the same value (by becoming a c base instead); if each base represented two digits, if any base is mutated, there is a 100% chance the value represented will be changed).

Also, seeing as only one strand actually matters (the other is just complimentary to it i.e. all 1s become 0s and all 0s become 1s) , and DNA is double stranded, it strikes me that it could be more efficient to use RNA, which is single stranded. Would (in my mind) half the mass of the storage medium. Again, I am sure there are numerous valid reasons for them not doing it this way.

Anyway, regardless of what I mentioned above, this is a rather interesting development. Although the responses in this thread make me doubt somewhat that people fully understand what this means; it's not a case of storing data inside a human beings DNA (although the article does mention that that is possible on a short term scale), it's about synthesising a substance that is essentially the same as DNA and using it as a storage medium, reading it with DNA sequencing hardware. As has probably been said, it's quite slow compared to hard drives, especially solid state and flash drives. It'd not be a case of storing movies or whatever on it, the read times would be far too slow. It'd be more useful as an archiving mechanism, allowing storage of an immense amount of data in a physically minute space, and for a very long time. Stuff that doesn't need accessed on a daily basis, but could potentially need referenced some day.

EDIT: As a side note, the OP mentions that the human genome (3 billion base pairs) can, with modern technology, be sequenced in a few hours. As a reference point, you should know that the amount of data stored by the Harvard scientists was about 2064150 times more. Now I guess you shouldn't have to sequence the entire DNA sample to find the data you need (the first 16 bases should give the "address" of that strand, letting you know if it's the right strand or not, and then you can move onto the next instead of doing all the subsequent bases), but it could still take a while I think. Although perhaps I have made some error in my calculations/thought process.

"Do a science"

 

[DiscostewSM]

And so, Jedi Mind Tricks will become reality when wireless transmitters to DNA are made.

 

[shakirmoledina]

The mysteries of the body. Simply amazing.

 

[Sterling]

My dog has DNA, can I softmod it? Can I play snes roms? Can you guys give a link to a rom site that has DNAmulators?

Somewhat related:
Installing Linux on a Dead Badger

Oh my God, that was funny as fucking hell. Bookmarked and shared.

 

[The Milkman]

Sounds cool, Organic storage. Imagine, a slight drop of something as simple as slava or dead skin. Maybe even the oil from your fingers could hold roughly the entire internet and still be smaller then a hair.

 

[Fishaman P]

Hold on, storing porn in my **** as we speak.

 

[Rayder]

Cool! Get this working and make that mole on my ass useful.

 

[Duckthom]

Soooo, in the future we get Human Flesh Drives?

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

Hold on, storing porn in my **** as we speak.

It's okay, you can say 'anus' here without repercussions.

 

[triassic911]

soooo...how do i transfer data to a friend?

Penetration.

how does that work with your male friends though?

....penetration.

ew the future is gonna be GAY

male to male won't fit. it has to be male female then male.

... I like it! It will be known as the DP adapter.

 

[431unknown]

We'll all have USB ports in our heads and shit!

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

We'll all have USB ports in our heads and shit!

Well there's the problem; Your USB port is upside down.
Did you have Mexican food for lunch?​

 

[431unknown]

I kinda get that at work already so I'm used to it.

 

[Jan1tor]

This would be fantastic for storing and cloneing a lifetime of memories into retrievable DNA data. WOW just think in the future we could actually start pirating memories and storing them as our own if we want. Or build a collective mind with multiple DNA storage devices.

 

[Bladexdsl]

We'll all have USB ports in our heads and shit!

more like this

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Genetically engineered cables ring the earth, bio computers help mankind into a new golden age. Now the leader of the terrorist organization plots to inject his own evil DNA program into the DNA computer known as Linda enabling him to gain control of the synthetic police force as the first step towards world domination!

Could be the start of a cool sci fi movie or some other type of movie.... lol


Edit: "I'm about to upload..... Aahhh!!!" lol

 

[DarkJDL]

Next up: A bioterrorist organization using DNAviruses to turn people into zombies.

You mean cellphones?