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Turning classic movies into DNA

April 7, 2016

Technicolor's laboratories have begun encoding movies into artificial, "non-biological" DNA.

Are you running out of room to store your important information? Have you considered using DNA? Technicolor's laboratories have begun encoding movies into artificial, "non-biological" DNA. The company has already been able to store a million copies of a single film in a vial that is barely bigger than a bullet.

According to Phys.org: "DNA is almost unimaginably small—up to 90,000 molecules can fit into the width of one human hair—so even such a large library is totally invisible to the human eye. All you can see is the water in the tube.

Scientists have been experimenting with DNA as a potential storage medium for years but recent advances in modern lab equipment have made projects like Technicolor's a reality.

The company's work builds on research by scientists at Harvard University, who in 2012 successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data—around 700 terabytes—in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density record by a factor of one thousand."

About the Author

Alexis Gajewski | Senior Content Strategist

Alexis Gajewski has over 15 years of experience in the maintenance, reliability, operations, and manufacturing space. She joined Plant Services in 2008 and works to bring readers the news, insight, and information they need to make the right decisions for their plants. Alexis also authors “The Lighter Side of Manufacturing,” a blog that highlights the fun and innovative advances in the industrial sector. 

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