Lifeboat Foundation

The modern world is facing a tsunami of data. DNA is emerging as an ultra-compact way of storing it all, and now researchers supported by Microsoft have created the first system that can automatically translate digital information into genetic code and retrieve it again.

In 2018 we created 33 zettabytes (ZB)—33 trillion gigabytes—of data, according to analysts at IDC, and they predict that by 2025 that figure will rise to 175 ZB. It’s been estimated that if we were to store all our information in flash drives, by 2040 it would require 10 to 100 times the global supply of chip-grade silicon.

DNA, on the other hand, is so compact it could shrink a data center to the size of a few dice. But for that to become practical we need a DNA-based equivalent of a hard drive that lets you upload and download data in a simple and intuitive way.

Continue reading “Microsoft Is Building an All-In-One DNA Data Storage Device” »

New algorithm delivers the highest-ever density for large-scale data storage.

In the age of big data, we are quickly producing far more digital information than we can possibly store.

Last year, $20 billion was spent on new data centers in the US alone, doubling the capital expenditure on data center infrastructure from 2016.

And even with skyrocketing investment in data storage, corporations and the public sector are falling behind.

Continue reading “A Data Storage Revolution? DNA Can Store Near Limitless Data in Almost Zero Space” »

The particle known as a Majorana fermion is as mysterious and uncontrollable as it is unique. It’s the only known particle that is also its own antiparticle, and has properties that make it an alluring candidate for qubits, the basic unit of information in a quantum computer.

Harnessing that potential, however, is easier said than done — Majorana fermions are slippery little suckers. But a team of particle physicists now reports they’ve found a way to control them.

“We now have a new way to engineer Majorana quasiparticles in materials,” said physicist Ali Yazdani of Princeton University. “We can verify their existence by imaging them and we can characterise their predicted properties.”

Continue reading “Wild New Discovery Shows How We Can Switch Majorana Fermions On And Off” »

Brain prostheses for the computer in your skull.

As mysterious as the Italian scientist for which it is named, the Majorana particle is one of the most compelling quests in physics.

Its fame stems from its strange properties—it is the only particle that is its own antiparticle—and from its potential to be harnessed for future quantum computing.

In recent years, a handful of groups including a team at Princeton have reported finding the Majorana in various materials, but the challenge is how to manipulate it for quantum computation.

Continue reading “Mysterious Majorana quasiparticle is now closer to being controlled for quantum computing” »

Work by a team of University of Adelaide scientists to perfect metal and mineral extraction processes is bringing the possibility of mining the wealth contained within asteroids closer to reality. But science fiction won’t become fact until asteroid mining becomes economically as well as technically viable.

“Asteroids such as Bennu are closer to us than Adelaide is to Alice Springs, about 1000 kilometres away in Earth’s near orbit,” says Professor Volker Hessel, Deputy Dean-Research from the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences (ECMS) and Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering.

“Advances in space exploration mean that these bodies which contain nickel, cobalt, and platinum as well as water and organic matter, are now within reach.”

Continue reading “Asteroid mining not a million miles away” »

You might risk losing yourself.

This week, UK-based futurologist Ian Pearson announced humanity will achieve immortality by the year 2050. Is he right?

According to the former rocket scientist and IT engineer – who claims to have an 85 percent success rate “when looking 10–15 years ahead” – recent advances in biomedical and computing technology will inevitably lead to victory over death via one of three means:

Continue reading “Are Humans Really On The Brink Of Achieving Immortality?” »