With each passing year, more and more data is produced and storing all information on space-consuming servers will be unsustainable in the long run.
A potential solution to the problem is to store data in DNA molecules, which would make it possible to store one billion gigabytes on an area equivalent to 6.5 square centimeters.
Now reports Nature that researchers at Microsoft in collaboration with the University of Washington have managed to store three images inside DNA. The pictures of a cat, the Sydney Opera House and a cartoon monkey have a total size of only 151 kilobytes, so of course a lot of work remains before the technology can be used seriously.
In the long run, it may be possible to store all data worldwide, ie 9 trillion bytes (9,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes), on a surface equivalent to a refrigerator.
Another advantage of the technology is that the information will be readable even in thousands of years, unlike today when it takes at most a few decades before the information needs to be transferred to a new storage medium.
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