Talk of bitcoin passwords being encoded and stored in synthetic DNA is not new, but in a recent development scientists have announced that DNA-encoded information can now be stored in everyday objects such as eye glasses or a shirt button, instead of a vial or test tube.
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From Test Tube to Silica Beads
Bitcoin seed phrases and other private information can now be stored in the clothes you wear, or any number of other inconspicuous, everyday objects. While previous reports have detailed the process for encoding data via synthetic DNA, and storage in a test tube, a new study entitled “A DNA-of-things storage architecture to create materials with embedded memory” claims that the code can now be embedded within everyday objects. The authors state:
We devised a ‘DNA-of-things’ (DoT) storage architecture to produce materials with immutable memory … DNA molecules record the data, and these molecules are then encapsulated in nanometer silica beads, which are fused into various materials that are used to print or cast objects in any shape.
The process conceptually is straightforward. As DNA consists of four bases, adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T), an algorithm can be used to convert digital information of ones and zeroes into sequences of these DNA bases called oligos. The researchers first detail how they were able to encode a “Stanford Bunny” with information needed to reproduce itself, loosely mimicking biology. The ‘bunny’ is a common 3D test model used in computer graphics. “First we compressed the binary stereolithography (stl) file of the bunny from 100kB to 45kB. Next, we used DNA Fountain [encoding protocol] to encode the file in 12,000 DNA
