The discovery that seems like fiction
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The famous mosquito in which dinosaur DNA was found (in fiction).
This new polymer has many uses. In addition to storing DNA, The polymer serves to maintain different types of information. The skynScientists tested this by saving the complete human genome and a digital file with the main theme of jurassic park.
James Banal, scientist of MIT, explained that “freezing the DNA “It’s the number one way to preserve it, but it’s very expensive and not scalable.” “I believe our new preservation method will be a technology that can drive the future of digital information storage in the world.” DNA”, he added.
He DNA It is a very stable molecule, which is why it lends itself to storing enormous amounts of information, also digital. The space occupied by the information stored in DNA It is minimal compared to more traditional methods.
In fact, the theory goes that a cup full of DNA could store all the information that currently exists on Earth.
The drawbacks of this form of storage, for now, are several. The first is that storing data in DNA It takes several days, and hydrofluoric acid must be used, which poses a risk to workers.
A new way of storage
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From MIT they highlighted the advantages of the discovery.
The scientists from MIT started with the idea of using a thermostable polymer to save the data. These polymers that form a solid when heated.
The material also includes cleavable bonds that can be easily broken, allowing the polymer degrades in a controlled manner.
After a complicated process, they arrived at the method T-REX (reinforced thermostable xeropreservation, for its acronym in English), which allowed them to imbibe the DNA into a polymer network in just a few hours, a process that could be shortened as technology advances.
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Save data from DNA for a long time in a simple way can help investigate specific cases with technology that did not exist when they occurred, among other possible uses.
Banal explained that “the idea is: why don’t we preserve the master record of life forever? “In ten or twenty years, when technology has advanced much further than we could imagine today, we will be able to learn more and more things.”
