Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have successfully stored the entire human genome sequence on an indestructible 5D optical memory chip no larger than a small coin. The carrier has already been placed in a secure underground storage facility for the possible future rebirth of humanity. The developers claim that it can withstand temperatures up to 1000 °C, cosmic radiation and direct impact loads of 10 tons per cm2.
Image source: University of Southampton
Developed at the Optoelectronics Research Center in Southampton, the 5D memory chips use ultra-fast lasers to write data into “nanostructured voids oriented within the silicon” measuring up to 20nm. The 5D in its name emphasizes that the new technology uses two optical dimensions and three spatial coordinates to record across the entire volume of the media. The developers claim that their method makes it possible to achieve unprecedented data density of up to 360 terabytes on a single chip (in some of the largest versions) without losing information over billions of years.
Scientists believe that in the distant future, when science makes it possible to reconstruct organisms from DNA, the genome map stored in this eternal crystal may become a reliable blueprint for the revival of human civilization. In addition to the human genome, crystals can also preserve the genomes of endangered plant and animal species that today face existential threats due to climate change, habitat loss and other environmental crises.
Researchers have already placed the first of the genomic crystal backups in an underground archive at a salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria. Reviving the species that inhabit the Earth from these eternal data crystals sounds more like a science fiction concept. Nevertheless, we would like to believe that our descendants, an AI that has captured the planet or another form of intelligent life, will decipher the human genome billions of years after the death of human civilization.
Image source: techspot.com
The developers claim that they designed the information carrier in such a way that other intelligent beings could retrieve this information. “The visual key inscribed on the crystal gives the finder knowledge of what data is stored inside and how it can be used,” said study leader Professor Peter Kazansky.
The key depicts the basic molecular structure of DNA nucleic acid base pairs, the iconic double helix structure, and echoes the famous Pioneer Plaque diagrams of information about humanity for other civilizations that NASA placed on its interstellar probes.
Image source: space.com