Bacterial DVD Holds 50TB

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.'"

Comments

A whole new era for Sneaker-Net

[IndustrialComplex]

Imagine the datarate if I were to hop into my car, drive across the country, and load this disk into a computer in California.

Even if the trip takes me 48 hours, that is still 303 MB/s!

Re:I bet these will have the same problem as CD-RW

[fafalone]

So what if it degrades? I'd still love to have 50TB discs that last for 2-3 years instead of a few GB that lasts a few years. This is a new technology designed to give higher capacity, not longer shelf life.