Unlike your USB drive, DNA can be preserved for thousands of years.
Catalog, a DNA-based platform for massive digital data storage and computation, announced Friday it’s crammed all of the text of Wikipedia’s English-language version onto the same genetic molecules our own bodies use with a device that writes data that can record 4 megabits per second right in DNA.
Optimizations should triple that rate, letting people record 125 gigabytes in a single day — about as much as a higher-end phone can store.
DNA is compact, chemically stable and reliable for a very long period of time.
“Encoding scheme and combinatorial approach allows for dramatic cost reductions and gains in throughput, making DNA-based storage and computation a reality.”