EVOLUTION OF THE DNA COMPUTER

A major improvement in DNA information storage and retrieval has been announced in Science Magazine. Two scientists from Columbia University and the New York Genome Center report a new high bar for DNA data storage — over two orders of magnitude better than previous attempts. They were able to encode text, images, a movie, and an operating system in 2 megabytes of DNA, and retrieve it back perfectly in multiple trials. News from Columbia University Data Science Institute says,

Humanity may soon generate more data than hard drives or magnetic tape can handle, a problem that has scientists turning to nature’s age-old solution for information-storage — DNA.

In a new study in Science, a pair of researchers at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) show that an algorithm designed for streaming video on a cellphone can unlock DNA’s nearly full storage potential by squeezing more information into its four base nucleotides. They demonstrate that this technology is also extremely reliable. [Emphasis added.]