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Bacterial DVD Holds 50TB

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the your-cdrom-wants-penicillin dept.

CAMags writes to tell us that a Harvard Professor is claiming to have developed a new variant of a protein called bacteriorhodopsin (bR) that, when layered on a DVD, can store up to 50TB of data. From the article: "The light-activated protein is found in the membrane of a salt marsh microbe Halobacterium salinarum and is also known as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). It captures and stores sunlight to convert it to chemical energy. When light shines on bR, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules each with a unique shape and color before returning to its 'ground state.'"

11 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. My God! by helioquake · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's alive!

    1. Re:My God! by dotwhynot · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the new DRM, be nice or you'll be infected ;)

    2. Re:My God! by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, dude... it's got an oral biointerface, you just lick it and it transfers the data directly into your brain. I had a copy of Yellow Submarine on it once, but I accidentally swallowed it. The fidelity was intense, man.

      Intense...

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  2. remember... by justkarl · · Score: 5, Funny

    bacteria, not a virus. Your data's safe.

    ....or is it? MWAHAHAHA!!!

    1. Re:remember... by Dannon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Only as long as you keep it away from the Lysol....

      --
      Good judgment comes from experience.
      Experience comes from bad judgment.
  3. Bacterium DVDs? by DaveM753 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard they're buggy.

  4. See... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    My apartment isn't messy -- it's just data backup.

  5. Professor's name... by nganju · · Score: 5, Funny


    ... is Venkatesan Renugopalakrishnan. His main motivation is to create a storage system big enough to fit his name on a single disc.

    Disclaimer: I'm Indian as well.

    --
    There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
  6. Re:Drawback ? by SashaMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think I'm too perfectionnist

    Good thing it wasn't a written interview.

  7. Re:I bet these will have the same problem as CD-RW by waferhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    How about another application---
    Discs that "auto expire" if not kept in the fridge ;)

    No, seriously.

  8. Re:Drawback ? by thesandtiger · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's not a very good answer - it reveals a bunch of negatives that are likely deal-breakers:

    1) You're a perfectionist, which means you may find it difficult to handle mistakes made by co-workers.
    2) You're a perfectionist, which means you may find it difficult working on a team with people who are not perfectionists.
    3) You're an admitted perfectionist, which makes it likely that you will attempt to cover up any mistakes you do make, rather than admit them.
    4) You're a perfectionist and you take extra time to try to accomplish a task, rather than doing it as well as it needs to be done and having it in on time. Most employers don't expect or actually want perfection - they know it isn't attainable.
    5) You're full of shit and just told the interviewer what you thought they'd want to hear, meaning that you're much less likely to be candid in other areas as well.

    The best answer, of course, would have been "FUCK YOU YOU CUNT I have Tourette's Syndrome ASSLICKER!" It would allow you to scream anything you like with impunity, and they'd be worried about getting sued if they didn't hire you.

    --
    Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.