Researchers have been searching for new ways of storing large amounts of data for long periods. Swiss researchers claim that they have solved the problem and can store massive amounts of data on artificial DNA.
Data at present can be stored in a number of media such as flash drives, hard drives and servers. However, without appropriate maintenance, all data in these media can be lost within 50 years.
Storing digital data in DNA form is not very new. Scientists have been successfully storing digitalized data in DNA for a few years now.
In 2012, researchers at Harvard University developed a way to store 700 terabytes of data in a single gram of DNA. However, retrieval of the data was not error-free.
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich posited that by covering DNA in silica, digital information can be stored and preserved securely for about a million years.
Robert Grass, a lecturer at ETH Zurich's Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, who led the research, pointed out that DNA reacts chemically when exposed to the environment, then changes.
The researchers also explained that fossilized materials that are found in bones can be analyzed even if they are exposed to the environment for thousands of years.
"Similar to these bones, we wanted to protect the information-bearing DNA with a synthetic 'fossil' shell," said Grass.
The researchers covered the DNA in silica spheres, which were about 150 nanometers thick. To mimic the chemical degradation process of the environment, the researchers stored the encapsulated DNA in temperatures between 150 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, or 60 to 70 degrees Celsius, for about a month.
When the researchers separated the DNA, they were successfully able to retrieve data stored in it.
Just a single gram of DNA can hold up to 455 exabytes of data. One exabyte equals 1 billion gigabytes. EMC, a cloud computing company, estimates that in 2011 about 1.8 zettabytes of data were stored in the entire world. One zettabyte is equal to 1,000 exabytes.
If all the data in the world can be successfully stored in DNA, then only a few grams of DNA will be needed.
