Stanford Bioengineers Create Rewritable Digital Data Storage In DNA 56
An anonymous reader writes "You don't hear too much about biological computing but in research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists reveal they have devised the genetic equivalent of a binary digit (full article, freely available) — a 'bit' in data parlance. 'It took us three years and 750 tries to make it work, but we finally did it,' according to Jerome Bonnet, of research which describes, a method for repeatedly encoding, storing and erasing digital data within the DNA of living cells."
No more thumb drives to lose! (Score:4, Funny)
Sweet. This means I no longer have to worry about losing my thumb drive - I'd just plug myself in!
Now, where should I put the pr0n folder...
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what kind of DRM do i have to install...
Re:No more thumb drives to lose! (Score:5, Interesting)
I was thinking of the same episode. It's weird how we've surpassed almost all of the science fiction of my youth, let alone that written before I was born. [baen.com] In 1966 everything in Star Trek was pure fantasy -- doors that opened all by themselves, space shuttles, talking voice-activated computers with flat screens, communicators, McCoy's sick bay (you kids can't imagine how primitive medicine was in 1966), Uhura's bluetooth earpiece... all fantasy that nobody ever expected to actually see in their lifetimes. Yet the only things from STOS we don't have today is matter replicators and warp drives.
I live in the science fiction future of my youth!
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We do have the MakerBot and other additive manufacturing. Granted for solids it only makes objects out of meltable materials: Plastic, metal, gelatin, wax, chocolate.
No progress on that Warp drive though.
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"Yet the only things from STOS we don't have today is matter replicators and warp drives." .... and instant transport tech. , particle weapons (that actually work), stun rays, force field/shielding tech., instant skin+bone healing tech., cloaking technology.....
Are you sure you remember this stuff ??
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"Yet the only things from STOS we don't have today is matter replicators and warp drives." .... and instant transport tech. , particle weapons (that actually work), stun rays, force field/shielding tech., instant skin+bone healing tech., cloaking technology.....
Where are my transporter beams? Artificial gravity? Moneyless society? And blue and green ladies in spandex miniskirts...?
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Forget all that, think about the possibilities of inherited genetic memory! Imagine being born with the knowledge of a PhD in ten different fields and being able to speak fifty languages. All we'd need is a way to access the information stored in the DNA. This may in fact become essential as the amount of time it takes to gain mastery in a field exceeds the human lifespan, as it eventually will. And each new generation could be upgraded with the achievements of the last, the technological and cultural advan
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... but why? You'd still not land the blue and green ladies in spandex miniskirts.
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Gives new meaning to the term "thumb drive"
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Just make sure to protect it; you wouldn't want to get a virus....
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Now, where should I put the pr0n folder...
Most people put it into the Y folder of their 23rd chromosome pair. You know, porn being mostly (though not completely) the guy thing.
Digital storage? (Score:1)
I RTFA'ed about 3 times. I'm a biologist. I don't get it. It's much more interesting from a biological perspective than a digital media perspective, where it is functionally useless. You're never going to see a "cell drive" in computers. And copying data (by cell division) can take hours.
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I also RTFA'ed a few times, and so far, all I can demise is that we're screwed. Skynet wins. But then again, I Am Not A Biologist. (IANAB).
Hawking said this would happen, btw.
Any word on effects (Score:2)
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Not if they're non-coding strings of DNA that aren't involved with gene expression.
Re:Any word on effects (Score:4, Funny)
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They used RAD to modify a particular section of DNA within microbes that determines how the one-celled organisms will fluoresce under ultraviolet light. The microbes glow red or green depending upon the orientation of the section of DNA.
Pfft... (Score:1)
...Johnny Mnemonic was doing that 20 years ago...
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haha i had the same thought
Johnny Mnemonic (Score:1)
The last piece! (Score:1)
Finally! I can make my Artificial Intelligence algorithms into a living thing!
Finally! (Score:3)
I can backup my BDs in my urine and feces!
2fer on viruses (Score:5, Insightful)
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This digital data storage could get both technological and biological viruses! I wonder what the crossover will be like... You thought bird flu jumping to pigs then humans was bad....
Yeah I know, the Symantec stock just jumped like giddy old mare.
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Assuming that "junk dna" would be random is like assuming that the junk mail in my bin is just random letters of the alphabet.
Copyright infringment! (Score:1)
Bonnet has now tested RAD modules in single microbes that have doubled more than 100 times and the switch has held. He has likewise switched the latch and watched a cell double 90 times, and set it back. The latch will even store information when the enzymes are not present. In short, RAD works. It is reliable and it is rewritable.
When the microbes double, the bit is copied. Just wait until the RIAA finds out!
Slowest data storage ever (Score:1)
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So far they can only write one bit eight times.
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Yes... but then all they need is another microbe where they can't write that bit. String them together to get your storage. Replicate ad nauseam....
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Bandwidth (Score:3)
There, and I thought my ISP's bandwitdh was awful.
Blood Music (Score:4, Interesting)
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erm... sci-fi? Ever heard of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_conjugation as an example of horizontal transfer of genetic information? It's real and it's one of the reason we have major trouble with resistent super bacteriae like O/MRSA and VRE.
Star Trek NG (Score:3)
Neat (Score:2)
I want to be able to rickroll my grandchildren. DAILY.
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Except that all those things are true.
Great ... for illegal pissers! (Score:2)
Pissing in a cup will show traces of illegal content usage!
Those downloading movies and music in their DNA, think twice ..