DNA is DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. The blueprint of every
living thing on the planet is encoded in DNA. It can hold a lot of
information. We could theoretically encode all the world's data
(emails, movies, books, pictures, etc.) on just a few grams of DNA.
According to New Scientist, a gram of DNA could theoretically store
455 exabytes of data. The world has about 1.8 zettabytes of data,
according to a 2011 estimate. All the world's information would fit
on a four-gram DNA hard drive the size of a teaspoon. Also, given
the right conditions, DNA can survive for thousands of years. Long
past the time traditional hard drives have degraded.
Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
encapsulated DNA in tiny, dry glass spheres. The researchers say
that DNA kept at a temperature of 10 °C would remain uncorrupted and
readable for 2,000 years. At even lower temperatures the data could
last two million years.
However, preserving data in DNA is currently very expensive. Swiss
researchers spent $1,500 to encode 83-kilobytes, which is smaller
than the size a picture taken on a smartphone uses. There are a
nearly two quintillion kilobytes in the world's 1.8 zettabytes.