Thinking out of the box works well and may even do wonders
when it comes to new technologies. This is particularly true in the IT field.
Researching our genetic DNA structure is the latest venture by scientists to
replace current computer disks.
اضافة اعلان
Data storage is a critical element in any computer,
digital device, or network system. From the “ancient” floppy disk of the 1980s,
which used to hold what retrospectively looks like a laughable 1 megabyte, to
today’s SSDs that can easily handle 1 terabyte and more, the growth ratio is a
good one million times. As impressive as this figure may seem at first sight,
it must be weighed against the need to store more and larger data all the time
— an exponentially increasing, endless need.
If the possibility to save and keep gigantic amounts
of information is now possible, from the purely technical point of view, the
indirect cost of running the data banks and servers is an environmental
challenge that no one can ignore, given the massive electric power required and
the amount of heat dissipated in the atmosphere. Cloud storage, that we all are
using one way or another, whether we like it or not, is greatly contributing to
making the state of affairs a real crisis.
Every time you send or receive a photo or a video on
your smartphone, for example, you access cloud storage, you consume
electricity, and generate heat, by making servers work for you. You do not necessarily
realize it or worry about it, but it certainly happens.
All web services have their share of responsibility,
but it is of course the five usual giants that have the largest carbon
footprint: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, a group also known
as GAFAM. Social networking and audiovisual streaming are major contributors to
the crisis.
In Ireland or the Netherlands, the electric power
required to run the data centers is estimated to represent a whopping 20 to 25
percent of the nation’s consumption, according to news channel France24. Across
the world, the average proportion is about 10 percent.
Scientists at the Sorbonne University in France are
researching the possibility of using nature’s smartest data storage element,
the DNA, to save digital data, instead of electrically powered disks and
servers. It may sound like science-fiction, but it is not; it is very real and
may be implemented in the not-so-distant future.
Instead of storing genetic sequences, the usual
series of zero and one will be stored, converted to ACGT. The four letters are
specific to the DNA molecules and represent adenine, cytosine, guanine, and
thymine.
If the concept materializes, a biological unit
smaller than a coffee bean would be able to hold the equivalent of 10,000
billion characters, without the need of electric power at all. A video shown on
France24 explained that all data stored in the world today would go on a unit
the size of a large chocolate bar. Apparently, Microsoft is investing in this
pioneering and very promising research field.
If the concept materializes, a biological unit smaller than a coffee bean would be able to hold the equivalent of 10,000 billion characters, without the need of electric power at all. A video shown on France24 explained that all data stored in the world today would go on a unit the size of a large chocolate bar.
Every few years a major leap is taken in data
storage. It is worth remembering the invaluable contribution of French Albert
Fert and German Peter Grünberg, two scientists jointly awarded the Nobel Prize
in physics in 2007 for their discovery of giant magnetoresistance that directly
led to large capacity, inexpensive hard disks.
Without giant magnetoresistance technology, computer
hard disks would hold significantly less data, and would be slower and much
more expensive. And to think it was only a few years ago, circa 2010, that they
were commercially introduced in the market.
At the level of personal computing and mobile
devices of all kinds, hard disks based on giant magnetoresistance have given
way to the faster and less power-hungry SSDs that we connect every day to our
laptops, tablets, and smartphones via USB.
However, hard disks and SSDs still need power to
operate, whereas DNA does not. This is a key point, since the issue is not
anymore about storing more, but about storing in a more environment-friendly
manner, above all.
If DNA data storage works one day, it will be one
more proof, if it was ever needed, that natural methods, when possible, are by
far the best. As to a foreseeable timeframe, today the state of the research
project on the subject is such that there is only a mention of “the very near
future”, without anyone daring to give a number of years as an estimate.
Jean-Claude Elias is a computer engineer and a classically trained pianist
and guitarist. He has been regularly writing IT articles, reviewing music
albums, and covering concerts for more than 30 years.
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