Scientists at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) have managed to store the full human genome on a 5D memory crystal. This data storage format does not degrade over time and can hold up to 360 terabytes of information without loss for billions of years, even at high temperatures.
Put simply, the crystal is equivalent to fused quartz, which means it can withstand the extremes of freezing, fire (temperatures of up to 1000 °C), and direct impact force of up to 10 ton per cm². Professor Peter Kazansky and his team used ultra-fast lasers to precisely inscribe data into nanostructured voids orientated within silica. This innovative method of encoding uses two optical dimensions and three spatial co-ordinates to write throughout the material, thus explaining the ‘5D’ in its name.
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We know from the work of others that genetic material of simple organisms can be synthesized and used in an existing cell to create a viable living specimen in a lab. The 5D memory crystal opens up possibilities for other researchers to build an everlasting repository of genomic information from which complex organisms like plants and animals might be restored should science in the future allow,” said Prof Kazansky.
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