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Hong Kong researchers store data in bacteria
AFP ^ | January 9, 2011 | Judith Evans

Posted on 01/09/2011 9:09:30 AM PST by decimon

HONG KONG (AFP) – The US' national archives occupy more than 500 miles (800 kilometres) of shelving; France's archives stretch for more than 100 miles of shelves, as do Britain's.

Yet a group of students at Hong Kong's Chinese University are making strides towards storing such vast amounts of information in an unexpected home: the E.coli bacterium better known as a potential source of serious food poisoning.

"This means you will be able to keep large datasets for the long term in a box of bacteria in the refrigerator," said Aldrin Yim, a student instructor on the university's biostorage project, a 2010 gold medallist in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s prestigious iGEM competition.

>

"Bacteria can't be hacked," points out Allen Yu, another student instructor.

"All kinds of computers are vulnerable to electrical failures or data theft. But bacteria are immune from cyber attacks. You can safeguard the information."

>

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Food; Science
KEYWORDS: mad; madscientists; scientists
If you can stomach all this knowledge and not just regurgitate what you've read.
1 posted on 01/09/2011 9:09:33 AM PST by decimon
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To: decimon

Sounds like an initial step towards organic computers.


2 posted on 01/09/2011 9:11:36 AM PST by stuartcr (When politicians politicize issues, aren't they just doing their job?)
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To: decimon

“”Bacteria can’t be hacked,” points out Allen Yu, another student instructor.”

If they can be programmed, they can be hacked.

Please make it stop


3 posted on 01/09/2011 9:12:56 AM PST by Christian Engineer Mass (Capitol Hill operator 866-727-4894 toll free. Just say which Representative/Senator you want to spea)
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To: Christian Engineer Mass

Opps! I spilled my antibiotics in your memory bank. Sorry!


4 posted on 01/09/2011 9:15:29 AM PST by listenhillary (20 years in Reverend Wright's church is all I need to determine the "content of his character")
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To: decimon

What happens when the bacteria kick off? How do they back it up? Better read entire article.
On another plane, have you ever smelled that stuff? I had a school buddy who used a little too much suction on a minim pipette and swallowed her specimen. Our prof wigged out. Same poor guy who ran the lab when another school buddy stuck her head too close to a Bunsen burner and set it on fire. Then there was the time that somebody misplaced our unknowns so not only were the cultures unknown, their whereabouts were unknown, too.


5 posted on 01/09/2011 9:22:35 AM PST by Silentgypsy
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To: listenhillary
Opps! I spilled my antibiotics in your memory bank. Sorry!

'Cloroxing ' could be a new term for permanently deleting incriminating data.

6 posted on 01/09/2011 9:23:31 AM PST by decimon
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To: decimon

7 posted on 01/09/2011 9:23:44 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: Silentgypsy
What happens when the bacteria kick off?

The way bacteria multiple, you might have backups everywhere. ;-)

8 posted on 01/09/2011 9:25:50 AM PST by decimon
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To: decimon; All

Just read the whole article.
Musical intestinal flora?
There are no words....


9 posted on 01/09/2011 9:26:42 AM PST by Silentgypsy
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To: Silentgypsy

Musical intestinal flora?

Been there done that.


10 posted on 01/09/2011 9:29:35 AM PST by listenhillary (20 years in Reverend Wright's church is all I need to determine the "content of his character")
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To: decimon
"This means you will be able to keep large datasets for the long term in a box of bacteria in the refrigerator," said Aldrin Yim, a student instructor on the university's biostorage project, a 2010 gold medallist in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s prestigious iGEM competition.

"...but the dog inhaled my homework!"

11 posted on 01/09/2011 9:32:52 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: decimon

How do you think they address mutations? (You don’t want to hear about my basic genetics class.) From what I recall, the mutants are usually weak and don’t survive, but there are those exceptions usually induced by some additional variable (MRSA and VRE)....


12 posted on 01/09/2011 9:37:32 AM PST by Silentgypsy
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To: martin_fierro
"...but the dog inhaled my homework!"

And can now recite Shakespeare.

If the dog ingests your homework you can always turn it in late in a pooper scooper.

13 posted on 01/09/2011 10:01:33 AM PST by decimon
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To: Silentgypsy
Musical intestinal flora?

Heretofore known as growling.

14 posted on 01/09/2011 10:03:17 AM PST by decimon
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To: Christian Engineer Mass

What’s wrong with 20gb C-dif?


15 posted on 01/09/2011 10:06:18 AM PST by goseminoles
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To: decimon
At the rate that DNA mutates in bacteria this doesn't seem like such a good storage medium for important data. There have been recent implications that the rate of DNA mutation in humans may be as high as 10,000 mutations per cell per day. That sounds amazingly high (there are really good repair mechanisms for these mutations, but they clearly don't always work, and I really hope it is a big over-approximation), but the fact remains that DNA is not that stable as an information storage medium. What would be interesting is to see if these natural occurring mutations could allow DNA-based computers to ‘evolve’ over time.
16 posted on 01/09/2011 10:11:44 AM PST by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: decimon
"This means you will be able to keep large datasets for the long term in a box of bacteria in the refrigerator," said Aldrin Yim,

Until someone accidentally trips over the power cord and pulls the plug...

17 posted on 01/09/2011 11:09:29 AM PST by Moltke (Always retaliate first.)
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To: decimon

Isn’t growling borborygmi?


18 posted on 01/09/2011 4:24:15 PM PST by Silentgypsy
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To: Silentgypsy
Isn’t growling borborygmi?

Well, there's a new word. But working into conversation could be tough.

19 posted on 01/09/2011 4:48:07 PM PST by decimon
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To: decimon

Not to worry. Nobody in the world would want to work it into a conversation. :)


20 posted on 01/09/2011 6:14:27 PM PST by Silentgypsy
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