07/09/2022
STORING INFORMATION IN DNA
All of the world's information now flows through the global digital system. This system creates 29,000 GB (gigabytes) of information per second!
The energy consumption of the data centers that store this information is therefore increasing rapidly and since 2010 the demand for storage is greater than our capacity to store it.
This growing need requires a technological breakthrough to provide solutions.
Researchers have therefore turned to the oldest and most efficient storage system on the planet: DNA.
DNA can hold 700 MB (megabytes) of information in each human cell. All of the world's data could fit into just 100g of DNA, whereas today we need 167 km2! And DNA retains data integrity for thousands of years while the data center estate needs to be renewed every 5-7 years.
In 2018, a team of researchers at the Sorbonne's Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Paris began investigating the possibility of storing digital (binary) information in DNA (quaternary).
By a complex process of transcription of the digital text (binary code) into a sequence of chemical molecules (quaternary code associated with the 4 nucleotides of DNA, C, G, T, A) attached to the DNA strands, they were able to encode two symbolic texts on DNA. The texts are the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 and the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen of 1791.
The encoded DNA strands were encased in two stainless steel capsules under an inert atmosphere and were officially registered in the iron cabinet of the National Archives in Paris on November 23, 2021.
This example shows us that nature's intelligence is billions of years ahead of us and that it is appropriate to look at how it works in order to be inspired and adapt our technology to its natural laws.
