DNA For Information Processing and Data Storage

Haydn Fenton writes "Here is an article on using DNA for data storage and even information processing. From the article, "The DNA molecule - nature's premier data storage material - may hold the key for the information technology industry as it faces demands for more compact data processing and storage circuitry. A team led by Richard Kiehl, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota, has used DNA's ability to assemble itself into predetermined patterns to construct a synthetic DNA scaffolding with regular, closely spaced docking sites that can direct the assembly of circuits for processing or storing data.""

ha

[Anonymous Coward]

i hope the feds don't find any copyrighted material stored in my DNA...

Eww

[Anonymous Coward]

> DNA For Information Processing and Data Storage

/.'s who masturbate near their computers need to stop. Bad aiming could corrupt your hard drive!

640K DNA molecules...

[GillBates0]

ought to be good enough for anybody.

-GillBates0.

SCO and DNA

[lordsilence]

Just wait till SCO find infringing code in YOUR DNA..

Slow Posting

[ClownsScareMe]

Could people be *gasp* reading the article?

Nasty unforeseen consequence

[borroff]

Unfortunately, when the tune "Jingle Bells" is coded in DNA for storage, it turns out to be a version of the flu...

Re:So how long...

[savagedome]

How long until Religious Nuts start claiming to see hidden messages encoded in our DNA telling us to love Jesus?

Each DNA strand is a number. Like the Hebrew A, Alef is 1. B, Bet is 2. You understand? But look at this. The strands are inter-related. Like take the Hebrew word for father, 'Ab' - Alef Bet... 1, 2 equals 3. Alright? Hebrew word for mother, 'em' - Alef Mem... 1, 40 equals 41. Sum of 3 and 41... 44. Alright? Now, Hebrew word for child, alright, mother... father... child, 'Yeled' - that's 10, 30, and 4... 44

Already see problems.

[RedA$$edMonkey]

Damn, now where did I put that strand of DNA with all my pr0n.

But Office is bigger than your DNA.

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt Gates said this, considering that Microsoft Office is bigger than your entire genome [blogspot.com]

Either Human DNA is programmed very well, or Office is programmed very poorly.

DNA plus Information Processing equals...

[amstrad]

...Eddie, your super friendly shipboard computer.

D'oh

[Anonymous Coward]

That means data integrity, a Good Thing.

So MySQL won't support it, then---but you can do it in the application layer.

Re:It works on so many levels

[LSD-OBS]

Mayonnaise, however, does. And it goes great with chips!

And it's really fun to make backups....

[Anonymous Coward]

Sex as a backup device!!!! That's way cooler than tape drives.

Viruses

[goombah99]

So the equivalent of a SQL, insert field command, will be a retro-virus? Will my database be down...with a cold?

I would prefer to use RNA

[dfn5]

Sure, go ahead and use DNA, if you want your data to mutate.
I will use RNA (Raided Nucleic Acid) instead.

I can just hear it now...

[Bhasin_N]

"In Breaking news, a minor short circuit has caused a freak mutation at Genetic Information Inc. causing all the chips to asexually reproduce and take over the coffe machines"

Re:Nasty unforeseen consequence

[HarveyBirdman]

You think that's bad? Encoding a Britney Spears album produced Ebola, Rift Valley fever, four Marburg variants and the freakin Andromeda Strain.

Re:Already see problems.

[ClownsScareMe]

Take a wild guess.

Re:So ...

[lucabrasi999]

We've gone from "heroicly unmodifiable" to "has modifiable sidechains" with two +5 informatives. Someone's right.

You have forgotten Slashdot Rule #6: Don't let the facts get in the way of the moderation.