Comments on: When the language of life meets the language of literature: encoding Shakespeare into DNA

By: Ear4

Ear4 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 07:08:30 +0000

DNA…magic things..haha..

By: gowshiga

gowshiga — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:52:30 +0000

great article …enchanting facts about DNA and its implications..thank you guys

By: Nishtha

Nishtha — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:21:53 +0000

THIS IS PRETTY AMAZING!!! WOW!!!

By: Chime Gochan

Chime Gochan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 06:25:44 +0000

Huh???? So, scientists are making libraries out of a human body????

By: Noel Robles

Noel Robles — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:28:13 +0000

Hooray. Now what? I have spent too many minutes trying to comprehend what has been said here.. And all I get is that If mankind was able to make synthetic DNA we could store massive amounts of data in this microscopic apparatus. HOWEVER then what will we do? Analyze the double helix and get our information out of an organic construct? What about the synthetic factor like was said? Computerized DNA? Would that be like “qua-nary” code? Sounds fun but impractical. Maybe when we can construct microscopic technology that dwarfs modern day tech! I can’t wait! The sad part is that I will probably be aged and senile by the time it arrives. By the way, the first critical comment on this article kind of…Well…ran about wildly.. Just correct the erroneous number. YES WE KNOW they erred. We as developed humans have 23 homologous pairs of chromosomes. NOT 2. But no need to beat a dead horse!

By: Talmid

Talmid — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:25:20 +0000

@Brucker: Yep, that’s right on about the reading and writing process. This isn’t the kind of thing we’ll be seeing in our homes any time soon. Also, the technique is not exactly “apocalypse proof” because one needs the technology to read the DNA and interpret the binary encoding—not to mention, someone has to be around to read it! Nevertheless, it is clearly a superior data storage method and Goldman’s innovations are impressive.

As for Christian Bök, I’d be surprised if Deinococcus radiodurans would maintain the integrity of his encoded poetry over successive generations.

By: amptramp

amptramp — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:09:23 +0000

It would be interesting to see what encoded DNA could do when transplanted into undifferentiated cells. For exqample, you could encode the works of Ernest Hemingway in DNA, add it to undifferentiated cells, allow the cells to grow and differentiate and you would get his works transformed into a living @sshole.

By: Judy

Judy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:32:59 +0000

Here’s a cool prank. Insert the DNA into a monkey, give it a typewriter, and watch all the probability theorists run for their calculators.

By: Brucker

Brucker — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:51:47 +0000

To really make this hit home, there needs to be a basis for comparison. By itself, “nearly 90 petabytes (one quadrillion bytes), in just 41 grams of DNA” is nearly meaningless.

Hopefully I’ve got this correct: Probably the most compact memory currently available on the market is a 64GB microSD, which weighs half a gram. If DNA can store nearly 90PB in 41 grams, that is about 1PB per half gram of DNA, or over a million times the storage capacity of of the microSD.

Of course what is also not discussed is the nature of the coding/decoding process, which I assume is not as simple as plugging a strand of DNA into a USB port.

By: D

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:58:24 +0000

I’m pretty sure the original idea which would be far more interesting for most of you to read, where Canadian poet Christian Bök is planning to encode his poem “The Xenotext” on a type of extremeophile (nearly unkillable) bacteria known as “Deinococcus radiodurans”.

- Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/apr/24/dna-poem-christian-bok-xenotext