Scientists turned to DNA in hopes of learning safer and longer-lived ways to store data.
We can look at written scrolls from thousands of years ago and get a glimpse of ancient cultures, but now in the digital age, researchers predict loads of data stored on servers will disappear within 50 years, ETH Zurich reported.
DNA can store large amounts of information in a "compact manner," but this data can often contain errors and is difficult to retrieve. To combat this, researchers developed a new technique that could allow for error-free storage lasting for more than a million years. To do this, the team encapsulated information-bearing segments of DNA in glass and used an algorithm to correct any mistakes in the data.
Two years ago, researchers figured out how to save and reread data in the form of DNA, but mistakes often occurred during the process. Researchers got an idea of how to protect this information from ancient bones that have preserved DNA for hundreds of thousands of years.
"Similar to these bones, we wanted to protect the information-bearing DNA with a synthetic 'fossil' shell," said Robert Grass, a lecturer at ETH Zurich's Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences.
The scientists encapsulated the DNA in silica spheres with a diameter of about 150 nanometers. The encapsulated information was then stored at temperatures of between 60 and 70 degrees Celsius for up to a month. These high temperatures replicate the chemical degradation that takes place over hundreds of years and condenses it into weeks. Once preserved the encapsulated DNA could be separated from the silica glass using a fluoride solution, allowing it to be reread.
The findings were reported in a recent edition of the Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
