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Genome Researchers Have Too Much Data

An anonymous reader writes "The NY Times reports, 'The field of genomics is caught in a data deluge. DNA sequencing is becoming faster and cheaper at a pace far outstripping Moore's law. The result is that the ability to determine DNA sequences is starting to outrun the ability of researchers to store, transmit and especially to analyze the data. Now, it costs more to analyze a genome than to sequence a genome. There is now so much data, researchers cannot keep it all.' One researcher says, 'We are going to have to come up with really clever ways to throw away data so we can see new stuff.'"

6 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Last post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    All previous posts have been purged due to too much data.

    1. Re:Last post by NFN_NLN · · Score: 5, Funny

      There is now so much data, researchers cannot keep it all.' One researcher says, 'We are going to have to come up with really clever ways to throw away data so we can see new stuff.'"

      Perhaps they can come up with a new type of storage mechanism modeled after nature. They could store this data in tight helical structures and instead of base 2 use base 4.

  2. Re:Wrong problem by bugs2squash · · Score: 5, Funny

    If only they had some kind of small living cell it could be stored in...

    --
    Nullius in verba
  3. Where does it all come from? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was under the impression the complete DNA sequence for a human can be stored on an ordinary CD.

    Given the amount of data mentioned in TFA it it begs the question what the hell are they sequencing? The genome of everyone on the planet?

  4. Re:Work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I see an opportunity for work, and jobs.

    Wozniak. He is called Wozniak. But opportunity will have to wait, because Jobs is dead. Sorry to break it to you like this.

    Come on, every story has an Apple angle, if you look at it the right way.. in fact, I bet those researchers could store all that data on an iPod if they wanted! You can plug it right in and sync with iTunes!

  5. Re:Wrong problem by StikyPad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Warning: Monkeying with lossy compression for human genomic data may lead to monkeys.