50 Terabyte DVD
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/5936/
"Modified bacteria may allow for huge optical storage capacities.
If we look at the evolution of optical storage, there have been incremental leaps in capacity every few years. First, those old CDs of around 700 megabytes. Next, we found DVDs, and only recently has the 8.5 gigabyte media become available to the public. And soon over the horizon, Blu-ray. It is expected that these 25 gigabyte discs will change they way we watch movies. Some companies are even developing Blu-ray discs to house anywhere from 50 to 200 gigabytes. They may be years away, but I would love to backup my entire hard drive to a couple of disc's. And now, bacterium may allow for storage in the terabyte range.
Announced earlier this week at a nanotechnology conference taking place in Brisbane, Australia this week, Harvard Medical School Professor V Renugopalakrishnan detailed some interesting experiments. Through using genetically modified bacteria, they were able to create a light-sensitive protein. As this tiny little creature will react to differences in light, it could conceivably become the ones and zeros encoded onto any type of optical media.
The research is in its early stages, and the affected bacteria reverted to their original state after only a few hours. It took some work, but Renugopalakrishnan and his team tweaked the Halobacterium Salinarum bacteria's DNA so they could produce proteins capable of retaining their changed state for years.
The theory is that if this protein were painted onto a blank DVD or some other type of flat medium (eg. tape drive), storage volumes would be massive. There was the suggestion of a system to allow for the replacement of hard drives. It is unclear however if these bacteria could come close to the read/write speeds of magnetic storage medium. And one thing never mentioned, but somewhat obvious would be the environmental benefits. If all our optical storage were made from bacterium, then all of those AOL CDs could live in the landfill without rick of pollution.
I won't be greedy, but perhaps they could start by growing me a ten terabyte USB flesh drive?"
"Modified bacteria may allow for huge optical storage capacities.
If we look at the evolution of optical storage, there have been incremental leaps in capacity every few years. First, those old CDs of around 700 megabytes. Next, we found DVDs, and only recently has the 8.5 gigabyte media become available to the public. And soon over the horizon, Blu-ray. It is expected that these 25 gigabyte discs will change they way we watch movies. Some companies are even developing Blu-ray discs to house anywhere from 50 to 200 gigabytes. They may be years away, but I would love to backup my entire hard drive to a couple of disc's. And now, bacterium may allow for storage in the terabyte range.
Announced earlier this week at a nanotechnology conference taking place in Brisbane, Australia this week, Harvard Medical School Professor V Renugopalakrishnan detailed some interesting experiments. Through using genetically modified bacteria, they were able to create a light-sensitive protein. As this tiny little creature will react to differences in light, it could conceivably become the ones and zeros encoded onto any type of optical media.
The research is in its early stages, and the affected bacteria reverted to their original state after only a few hours. It took some work, but Renugopalakrishnan and his team tweaked the Halobacterium Salinarum bacteria's DNA so they could produce proteins capable of retaining their changed state for years.
The theory is that if this protein were painted onto a blank DVD or some other type of flat medium (eg. tape drive), storage volumes would be massive. There was the suggestion of a system to allow for the replacement of hard drives. It is unclear however if these bacteria could come close to the read/write speeds of magnetic storage medium. And one thing never mentioned, but somewhat obvious would be the environmental benefits. If all our optical storage were made from bacterium, then all of those AOL CDs could live in the landfill without rick of pollution.
I won't be greedy, but perhaps they could start by growing me a ten terabyte USB flesh drive?"
posted by - at 4:58 PM
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