The 25th of September 2000 was a very special day for the country of Australia. It was the day that Cathy Freeman became the first Aboriginal person to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event, at the Sydney Olympics no less. Exactly twenty years later, on the 25th of September 2020, this moment was relived in a spectacular manner. In an initiative launched by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) together with the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH), the legendary race was projected onto the Sydney Opera House for the world to see. What makes this event even more special however, is the fact that the data of the footage was preserved on a brand new data storage technology: Synthetic DNA.
According to the CEO of the NFSA, Jan Müller, Cathy Freeman’s race is seen as a part of Australia’s DNA, ideal to be preserved in actual DNA and become Australia’s first usage of the new technology. The DNA copy of the race is currently stored in a vial the size of a AAA battery. Theoretically though, the entire NFSA archive could fit six times over in synthetic DNA the size of a matchstick.
With the amount of data being collected by companies growing exponentially, current data storing solutions may not be sufficient in the near future. Data storage centers already take up a lot of space and consume huge amounts of energy. This creates a problem regarding the costs of running such data storage centers and the environmental effects the energy consumption causes. This is where DNA data storage comes in as a possible solution.
While digital information is stored using 0’s and 1’s, DNA information is stored using four nucleotides (A, T, G and C). The order of these nucleotides determines the information that the DNA contains. This makes for a more efficient way of coding information since there’s four elements instead of two. Scientists have already managed to record information into DNA with a storage density of about 1019 bits per cubic centimeter. At this density, all of the world’s current storage needs for a year could be met by a cube of DNA that’s smaller than a cubic meter. Add the fact that DNA is incredibly stable and the data is easily written, read and copied and you may have a viable solution for the data storage problem.
Although it will probably take a while before economies of scale are great enough to make day to day use of DNA data storage economically viable, the implications are very impressive and it’s certainly possible that DNA data storage options will run the future.
References
Dong, Y., Sun, F., Ping, Z., Ouyang, Q. and Qian, L. (2020). DNA storage: research landscape and future prospects. National Science Review, [online] 7(6), pp.1092–1107. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/7/6/1092/5711038
Gonzalez, M. (2020). NFSA + DNA. [online] NFSA. Available at: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/nfsa-dna
Morris, L. (2020). In our DNA: Cathy Freeman’s Olympic win projected onto Opera House. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/in-our-dna-cathy-freeman-s-olympic-win-projected-onto-opera-house-20200922-p55xzx.html
Sang Yup Lee (2019). DNA Data Storage Is Closer Than You Think. [online] Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-data-storage-is-closer-than-you-think/
Hello Antonie, I have never heard of DNA Data Storage before so many thanks for sharing this interesting article. Indeed, with 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day, data centers all around the world will reach their capacity at some point. As this data growth is only accelerated by technologies such as the IoT and machine learning, traditional storage technology might soon be technically or financially infeasible. If DNA Data Storage is really capable of achieving the same levels of data quality and stability as traditional storage methods, I can definitely imagine to see a paradigm shift in storage technology. However, it will probably take decades until this new method has reached product maturity – until then, we will have to keep expanding our data centers.
Hi Antonie! Thank you for sharing this post. Very interesting to read about DNA storage and how it has been implemented in Australia. In a world where data becomes larger and more frequent, solutions need to be found for its storage. Currently, there are many enormous data-centers scattered across the globe, consuming enormous amounts of energy. This type of DNA storage could be a solution to for a more sustainable source of energy and reduce the physical space needed for storage. DNA storage will be the future and I look forward to following its developments in the next few years. Thanks again for the great post!