Where Are We Going to Put All That?

Right now, the world is talking about the U.S. attacks on Iran, while the tech world is closely following the Pentagon-Anthropic-OpenAI spats about AI safety and guardrails. I’m going to let cooler, smarter heads opine about them. Instead, I want to return to the rather more dull, but equally important, topic of data storage.

A pretty piece of glass? Yes, but with LOTs of data on it. Credit: Microsoft Research

I first wrote about data storage almost ten years ago, focusing on the then-new ideas of using diamonds or DNA as ultra-dense storage mechanisms. Five years later I was surprised to find we were about to enter the Yottabyte Era of data, with DNA still a leading candidate to store all that data. Since then we’ve seen AI blossom and data centers become a top-of-mind topic of conversation for many Americans. We’re generating data faster than we can find places to store it, and still haven’t solved how that storage will last long term.

Well, I’m happy to report that advances in DNA storage continue, and that there is a new rival – glass! – that may prove even better.

Let’s start with DNA:

Rewritable DNA storage: This week researchers at the University of Missouri said that they’ve found a way to not only store data in DNA but to rewrite it as needed. Li-Qun “Andrew” Gu, a professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, said. “We wanted to see if we could store and rewrite information at the molecular level faster, simpler and more efficiently than ever before.”

The team is developing a compact electronic device paired with a molecular-scale detector called a nanopore sensor. As the DNA passes through the sensor, it creates subtle electrical changes that software translates back into zeros and ones and, ultimately, the original data file. This method allows data to be written, erased, and rewritten repeated, just like a hard drive might, except with much more storage and longevity.

“Think of it like a super-secure safe deposit box for your digital life,” Professor Gu said. “DNA storage could protect everything from personal memories and important documents to scientific data and corporate archives — without the added cybersecurity concerns.”

Synthetic biology, meet electronics: Last week, a team of researchers at Penn State University, reported on getting DNA to work with electronics. The researchers developed a memory resistor, or “memristor,” that requires little energy to operate. Better yet, memristors can allow current flow even after its power source is turned off and it can remember the direction of prior current flow.

The team had to create customed DNA sequences, integrate them with thin films of perovskite, which is commonly used in solar cells, lasers and data storage devices. This made the DNA capable of conducting electricity.

“We can computationally determine exactly which sequences we need and how long they should be, and then we can rationally design them with synthetic DNA,” co-author Neela H. Yennawar, research professor and director of the Penn State Huck Institutes, said. “These structures can be systematically doped with silver and other ions and engineered to interface seamlessly with perovskites — transforming DNA from a biological macromolecule into a programmable, multifunctional nanomaterials platform.”

“Biology and electronics are different domains,” said Kavya S. Keremane, co-corresponding author and postdoctoral researcher in materials science and engineering. “Bridging these two fields required developing an entirely new materials platform that allows them to function seamlessly together. By combining the information storage capabilities of DNA with the exceptional electronic properties of perovskite semiconductors, we created a bio-hybrid system that fundamentally changes how low-power memory devices can be designed.”

Cheaper, Faster, More secure: In a pair of related studies released in late January, researchers at Arizona State University propose to approach DNA storage differently: “By treating DNA as an information platform rather than just a genetic material, we can begin to rethink how data is stored, read and secured at the nanoscale,” says Hao Yan, a Regents Professor in the School of Molecular Sciences and director of the Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics.

The approach centers less around the well known letters DNA uses but rather the physical shape. They designed and constructed nanoscale DNA structures that acted as physical letters, When those letters pass through a microscopic sensor, machine learning software records and analyzes subtle electrical signals, which the system can then translate back into readable words and short messages with high accuracy.

The approach greatly increases the number of possible molecular codes that can be created, making unauthorized decoding far more difficult. It also allows information to be packed into three-dimensional DNA structures, which adds even more complexity and security to each molecular key.

“In these studies, our team brings together complementary approaches, including DNA nanotechnology, super-resolution optical imaging, high-speed electronic readout and machine learning, to interrogate DNA nanostructures across multiple spatial and temporal scales,” Chao Wang, associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. said.

Then, for something completely different:

Through a glass, clearly: In mid-February, Microsoft reported what it called a “breakthrough” in glass-based storage, under its Project Silica, the goal of which is to develop:  

…the world’s first storage technology designed and built from the media up to address humanity’s need for a long-term, sustainable storage technology. We store data in quartz glass: a low-cost, durable WORM media that is electromagnetic field-proof, and offers lifetimes of tens to hundreds of thousands of years. This has huge consequences for sustainability, as it means we can leave data in situ, and eliminate the costly cycle of periodically copying data to a new media generation.

The breakthrough entails writing not just to expensive silica but ordinary borosilicate glass, the same material found in kitchen cookware and oven doors. Moreover, they’ve made both the reading and writing devices simpler, faster, and cheaper. The team wrote: “All steps, including writing, reading and decoding, are fully automated, supporting robust, low-effort operation,”

They believe that glass storage is resistant to water, heat, and dust (unlike DNA), and should preserve data for at least 10,000 years. “It has incredible durability and incredible longevity. So once the data is safely inside the glass, it’s good for a really long time,” said Richard Black, the research director of Project Silica. He cautions, though, ““This is not a replacement for everyday storage like [solid state drives] or hard drives. It’s designed for data you want to write once and preserve for a very long time.”

----------

Obviously, I’m skipping lots of technical details, and, just as obviously, we’re not quite there yet with either. But that’s the thing about long-term solutions; we have to start developing them now, before the future overwhelms the present.