
DNA Data Storage Is Closer Than You Think - evo_9
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-data-storage-is-closer-than-you-think/
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daenz
It's fun to think about our DNA already being used for storage...the storage
of the various attributes defining a reproductively-successful organism. The
data being stored is an amalgamation of billions of years of environmental
knowledge going back in lineage to the first cells on earth (presumably).

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pmoriarty
I read a very similar article touting this technology 20 years ago. It was in
the research phase then, and it still seems to be in the research stage now,
with no DNA storage devices available on the consumer market yet or any time
soon.

I'd love to see this tech become a reality, but right now outside of the
laboratory it seems to be all hype.

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tmikaeld
Isn't glass storage closer to the masses and already in use?

[https://www.disclose.tv/these-5d-glass-discs-store-360-tb-
of...](https://www.disclose.tv/these-5d-glass-discs-store-360-tb-of-data-
for-138-billion-years-370041)

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est31
Do you actually know how long it lasts? What if it lasts only 100 years? With
DNA we know the lasting period very well because of carcasses and corpses that
died thousands of years ago and whose DNA we were able to sequence.

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mirceal
you’re making the assumption we’ll use the same type of DNA and that this will
work in exactly the same way. pretty powerful assumption

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etrautmann
Well, it’s impossible to have it both ways. If you want the already validated
approach then you’ll have to stick with DNA and not some variant structures.

It’s a decent point, however, that if this tech takes off, there may be
innovations in storage molecules to improve read/write speed, density, etc.

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johnnycab
This is a very interesting use case by the trip-hop band Massive Attack, by
storing their 20th anniversary re-issue of Mezzanine in DNA 'spray'.

[https://www.wired.co.uk/article/massive-attack-mezzanine-
dna...](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/massive-attack-mezzanine-dna-album)

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angel_j
If I can store data in DNA, can I use yeast for genetic algorithms?

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zamalek
You'd have to figure out how to encode the fitness function into the
DNA/environment. We're only scratching the surface of how DNA works in its
entirety and are likely decades away from being able to "compile to DNA."

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angel_j
The genetic variability available to the organism can be treated as
normalization / quantization of abstract encoding. Map your desired results to
this abstract "latent space" and start breeding yeasts. Build environment with
various factors' parameters controlled by actuators attached to computer doing
ML, maybe even GAs. The environment is the function!

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techpop10
"we are about to have a serious data-storage problem" is a bit hyperbolic but
the technology is very real and being actively developed by a few different
orgs.

