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Data Storing Bacteria Could Last Millennia
PetManimal writes "Computerworld has a story about a new technology developed by Keio University researchers that creates artificial bacterial DNA that can carry more than 100 bits of data within the genome sequence. The researchers claimed that they encoded "e= mc2 1905!" on the common soil bacteria, Bacillius subtilis. The bacteria-based data storage method has backup and long-term archival functionality." The researchers say "While the technology would most likely first be used to track medication, it could also be used to store text and images for many millennia, thwarting the longevity issues associated with today's disk and tape storage systems ... The artificial DNA that carries the data to be preserved makes multiple copies of the DNA and inserts the original as well as identical copies into the bacterial genome sequence. The multiple copies work as backup files to counteract natural degradation of the preserved data, according to the newswire. Bacteria have particularly compact DNA, which is passed down from generation to generation. The information stored in that DNA can also be passed on for long-term preservation of large data files."
We *will* need a Beowulf cluster of these, seriously.
This is the ultimate distribution system for OSS. New distros are released every flu season.
It's also not a bad way to distribute movies. Let the RIAA sue a bunch of bugs for file sharing.
And windows could be distibuted on anthrax bacteria, so users would learn to be appropriately wary.
It's hard enough keeping track of all these CD's and DVD's.
But how many Libraries of Congress will a bathroom drain hold?
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
So, has anyone tried working out if various junk DNA already holds information that we'd be overwriting with this technique?
I mean, there are plenty of theories about "seeding" of life on earth after all... maybe we already have a wealth of untapped knowledge?
(Personally, I think it's extremely unlikely, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be prudent to check anyway)
stories like this one, and the story earlier today about the graphene transistor, make me wonder how far off truly organic computing is - and whether or not we'll eventually be indistinguishable from computers. or they from us.
who's to say that our bodies/brains aren't some elaborate computer design ala douglas adams' design?
My backup chemistry thesis mutated; granting me a degree in forensic anthropology.
My backup chemistry thesis stored on Data Storing Bacteria mutated; granting me a degree in forensic anthropology. v4sw7
It's not enough to store the data, you also have to make the data recognizable. After all 100 years from now how do you know where to look to read the data? The biggest problem is that non-coding dna is not selectively preserved.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
But as always, a virus can still eat your data.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Funny how a virus will still corrupt your data.
--<Mike>--
Can you spray them with Lysol to erase them in an emergency? (The remainder of this post assumes a YES.)
This could be great for military/government intelligence archival, or, really, any situation where the data needs to be used once and destroyed.
The longevity, coupled with ease of total erasure, would be great for digital storage of any document with personal information on it, as well. I could see using these discs to submit job/credit/lease applications, recieve bills and in any dealings with the government or IRS. They'll last for as long as needed and can be completely erased before disposal.
If they're rewritable, as well, all temporary storage related to the files on the disc could be placed on the disc as well, completely keeping that sensitive data off of any other, possibly recoverable, media. If this is the case, perhaps, once these become available, any business or govenrment entity storing personal information should be required to store it on these discs and only these discs.
---
Yes, the entirity of this post, excepting this line and the first, is entirely speculative; keep that in mind when moderating (insightful?)
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
"it could also be used to store text and images for many millennia"
Imagine a Scientist from the 37th century scanning a particular bacteria's DNA sequence and hit Goatse
geek page at KY speaks
The biggest problem is that non-coding dna is not selectively preserved.
Actually, genetic sequences which are irrelevant to the survival of the entity (as these sequences presumably are) spread through a population and thus are preserved. It is not as rapid as if it provided a benefit, but they spread nonetheless. In a 5th year AI class I actually did experiments with evolutionary computation, looking at genetic changes which had no affect on the fitness of the individuals. The purpose of the experiments was actually to explore whether variation in a population, even if it didn't have any effect of the fitness of the individuals, was a good thing (basically) -turns out it is. But I also learned that even without selection pressure, mutations/new genetic information, spreads (actually rather quickly) through a population.
Exactly. The fact that the data is preserved by being copied every 20 minutes is entirely counteracted by the fact that reproduction is inherently error prone. Many species of bacteria regularly swap DNA to get around the fact that their reproduction is mostly asexual, but even then, mutations can and do occur. Without some mechanism to kill the bacteria when there is a mutation with the encoded data, this is a horrible long term data storage solution. There are interesting short term tracking applications, but data storage? No.
100 bits ought to be enough for anybody.
I can see a movie coming on: Indiana Jones and the Lost Bacteria. After a long race to figure out what the sequence means, he is forced to shoot (from an airplane) an unsuspecting Mexican maid (who he had fallen in love with) when she pulls out the AntiBacterial soap on the last remaining specimen in his hotel room.
Or something like that. I might not be the best at futuristic thrillers.
somewhere, on a Big Red Sign:
if(color==blue){speed--;}
I haven't seen a single post by a biologist yet pointing out that if you start inserting arbitary data
into "spare" DNA then sooner or later you are going to create a lethal pathogen - purely on the basis
of probablity and statistics.
Of course you can be sure the one that wipes out all life on Earth will turn out to be an Mp3 encoding
of a Britney Spears tune.
Don't tell AOL about this. I, for one, do not welcome all the envelopes full of "starter" bacteria.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Joe Davis did this more than 17years ago.
Bacteria, due to their rapid rate of replication (short generation time) are very prone to selection. There would be a fitness decrease to carry around this useless DNA, especially in redundant copies. Because of this, over time the mutants which had this "data" deleted would replicate slightly more quickly and these footprints in the sand would be washed away. This is the whole reason bacteria have compact genomes, redundancy and garbage are a waste of energy to replicate every generation making them weaker than their optimized counterparts.
I believe you're referring to panspermia, which could have been accidental or deliberate. In the former case, life happens to make it from one habitable environment into another across interplanetary/interstellar distances. A situation analogous to accidental panspermia occurs on earth all the time, when a coconut floats from one island to another, or an insect is blown up in a storm and lands on another continent. For interplanetary cases to be feasible, life needs to be able to make it from, say Earth to Europa or vice-versa, which I think is entirely plausible. If there is other life in this solar system how closely related to life on Earth it is will answer some questions and clarify many new ones.
In the latter case, deliberate panspermia may be the signature of intelligence far greater than our own. Life on Earth could simply be the evidence and the result from von Neumann probes from another civilization (possibly long gone) or even another galaxy (which to me is not completely implausible).
I don't believe in this theory, but I am open to everything. Always keep an open mind.
You shouldn't "believe in" any theories; simply weigh them according to how likely they seem based on current knowledge and valid criticism, and choose the best one at this time to guide further research and actions. Indeed, an open mind is required.
The first few digits of pi, or the Euler constant, or a fibonacci series, that would be kinda cool
How about instructions coding for beings which will evolve the ability to perceive and describe such mathematical concepts? The constants themselves would degrade, but the instructions for these capabilities would confer real evolutionary advantages and would be passed on for generations, and improved over time.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
This definitely brings with it some possibilities, but I think that the technology is available right now to allow any determined person to sneak data past all but the most intensive biomedical screenings.
You can fit an awful lot of data in something the size of a Tylenol gel-cap, and aside from the unpleasant recovery aspect, nothing less than a X-ray is going to detect that (maybe not even an X-ray, if you were careful about the components used). Of course, your digestive system only gives you a window of opportunity measured in (at most) days; if you wanted to go longer than that, you're talking about implants. But that would get you through most transit checkpoints.
I'm not really even sure this is a new development: spies and other folks with resources have had microfiche and microdots for years. Cement one of those to your nether regions, or swallow one, and it would take a pretty determined search to turn one up. Or if you wanted, you could probably even sprinkle them over an unwitting mule's clothes, and then recover one on the opposite end.
It doesn't seem like data theft is really something that you can realistically try to stop at any border, anymore. If someone has the data in a format that they can load on their person and take to the border, it's gone. If you can get a person across, you can get data across. Certainly if you are allowed to take any type of electronics, it should be considered information-porus; there are so many ways to disguise information using steganography, that it's not practical to try and sanitize it.
Certainly by the time that biological information storage becomes widely practical, all but the most backwards nations and companies will have realized that stopping the flow of information with physical checkpoints at the border is a losing game. At best, you might be able to make it a little easier or harder, but real information security depends on limiting hostile parties' access to information in the first place, not trying to limit their transportation of it afterwards.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
A quick spritz of Lysol isn't going to affect the DNA of the bacteria much, if at all. Denaturing the DNA is not how antiseptics kill bacteria. I think that data stored in this fashion would actually be a lot harder to destroy than magnetic storage. After all, they can extract (fragments of) DNA from fossils.
Pretty soon we're gonna find out that human DNA was just supposed be storage for Alien pornography.
Indeed. Parchive uses Reed-Solomon error correction to create redundant data so that if you have one block of such data, you can use it to correct any single corrupted block in the source data.
It is also used in e.g. RAID-5 and CDs (ever wondered why you can make a long scratch and it still plays correctly?)
The article only talks about multiple copies of the original data, but I wouldn't be surprised if the scientists actually use a Reed-Solomon implementation for redundancy.
They can actually store 7 x 6 in a DNA sequence for furture generations to read? I wonder what the question would read in about 3 million years. The power of DNA is to corrupt itself slightly.
...bacteria store YOU... especially if you are addicted to the Intarhweb
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
In other news, what was presumed to be junk DNA in the human genome has been decoded. It turns out it contains a message: "Help - I'm trapped in a creature factory."
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
well, this is not news really. joe davis (MIT) suceeded doing this several years ago. he recoded E.COLI bacteria - taken off of space detritus. read more: Scientific American
dont wanna click: here is some nice info about him:
* Expelled from three high schools and two colleges: for writing about atheism, refusing a haircut, making a still (which exploded), being elected student body president on a "free marijuana" platform and working on an underground anti-war newspaper.
* Walked into the M.I.T. Center for Advanced Visual Studies uninvited in 1982. Secretary called the cops. Forty-five minutes later, Davis walked out with an appointment as a research fellow. (TRUE)
* Latest project is to build a biomechanical ornithopter powered by electrically stimulated frogs legs and to fly it across the Charles river. (it worked and he ate the frogs legs.)
* Uses hollow steel peg leg to open beer bottles, to accompany the band (bugle-style) at his local bar, and to charm curious women at parties. (TRUE, but he can do more...)