Did you know that in one gram of DNA is it possible to store 1000000000 Terabyte data for 1000 years?
Η Microsoft φέρεται να έχει αγοράσει 10 εκατομμύρια κλώνους συνθετικού DNA, (ονομάζονται Oligonucleotides ή ολιγονουκλεοτίδια γνωστά και ως μόρια DNΑ), από τη startup Twist και συνεργάστηκε με researchers from the University of Washington to explore the idea of using synthetic DNA in data storage.
Microsoft plans to drastically change the future of data storage technology, as we know it to date.
The volume and the rate of data generation and production every day is so fast that servers and hard drives need to be replaced periodically, potentially increasing the risk of data corruption and loss of data.
According to statistics, the 5,4 zettabytes (4.400 billions of gigabytes) of digital data are now available in the world. This data was created up to 2015, and will increase vertically in 54 zettabytes (ZB) to 2020.
For this reason, Microsoft has begun collaborations with scientists from the University of Washington that aim to use DNA as a data storage medium.
The data storage density of DNA is much higher than in conventional storage systems, as just 1 gram of DNA can store about 1 billion terabytes data.
In addition, DNA is remarkably powerful, which means that the data stored in DNA can remain intact and read for a very long time (from 1000 to 10.000 years).
According to Twist, all existing digital data could be stored in less than 20 grams of DNA.
Although the technology is still a long way off the market (you won't see any DNA smartphone coming soon), initial tests conducted last fall demonstrate that 100% of digital data encoded in DNA could be recovered, Microsoft Research's Doug Carmean announced in a press release.
Recently, American Chemical Society reported that data storage in DNA could last up to 2.000 years without any risk of deterioration.
