Correction: At 5:40, we say each gigabyte of data in DNA would cost $1300 US to synthesize right now. The number is from a 2021 study, which is the most up to date number we could locate.
Our data hoarding habit is becoming unmanageable. We’re expected to hit 175 zettabytes of data being stored by next year - that’s 175 trillion gigabytes. This will require a lot more energy- and water-hungry data centres in a rapidly warming climate. But teams of biologists and computer scientists think they have the answer - storing data in DNA, or what some call ‘nature’s storage device.’
Software translates binary code into a string of DNA, which is synthesised into a vial of material. This can then be read again and translated back into binary when needed. Backers of this process say its storage potential is vast - a whole stadium’s worth of binary data could fit into a shoebox, theoretically. DNA can last for hundreds of years, compared with the five-year shelf life of disk storage, and it can be stored in a cool, dry place with little upkeep.
Transposing the world’s data from 1s and 0s to DNA is a work-in-progress, so we set out to test the limits of where we are right now. Could this new tech take a photo of a cute dog off our correspondent’s overpacked phone library, put it into DNA, and retrieve it again?
0:00 Intro
0:53 Too much data
2:02 Why use DNA?
4:00 Putting DNA to the test
4:27 Writing
5:06 Synthesis
6:32 How far off?
7:32 Reading, the final test
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