Microsoft Researchers Store Audio File Of 'Smoke On The Water' On DNA

In a show of alternative data storage systems, researchers at the University of Washington, Microsoft Research, and Twist Bioscience have saved audio recordings of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" and Miles Davis' "Tutu on" DNA.

"The original recordings were part of the Montreux Jazz Festival archive, which is also where the new DNA-encoded versions will live," reports GeekWire.

This is not the first time researchers at UW and Microsoft have experimented with saving data to synthetic DNA. The feet aims to prove DNA as a viable source for storing lots of information that companies might need as the need to store more data arises. Sometimes in the cloud.

Storage is not the only research area that the two have been delving into. A new paper published in July by the journal Nature Nanotechnology, scientists at the University of Washington and Microsoft Research describe a method that uses spatial organization to build nanoscale computational circuits made of synthetic DNA. 

George Church from Harvard Medical School in a video posted to YouTube explains why scientists have begun to explore synthetic DNA for archival purposes. Accompanying him in the video, Wyss Institute's Sriram Kosuri says data on DNA lasts long and people can recover the data after thousands of years.

Imagine having the ability to search through this type of store unit. Kosuri says that in 2011, "you could store the total world's information on four grams of DNA."

Church and Kosuri used an HTML version of a book that includes images and JavaScript.
2 comments about "Microsoft Researchers Store Audio File Of 'Smoke On The Water' On DNA".
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  1. John Grono from GAP Research, October 4, 2017 at 8:22 a.m.

    So if "The feet aims to prove DNA as a viable source for storing lots of information..." I wonder what the hands, or arms or legs aim is.

  2. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, October 4, 2017 at 8:46 a.m.

    John, the hands grab the money to be paid for this innovation, the arms securely cushion the stack of bills and the feet run away from angry customers or users who think they have been bilked. Just a thought?

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