科學家將整個人類基因組儲存在「記憶晶體」上，可以保存數十億年

Recently CNN News on-line reported the following:

Scientists store entire human genome on ‘memory crystal’ that could survive billions of years

By Rosa Rahimi, CNN

 3 minute read

Published 7:53 AM EDT, Fri September 20, 2024

London

CNN

 —

Scientists in the United Kingdom have stored the entire human genome on a “5D memory crystal,” in the hope that it could be used in the future as a blueprint to bring humanity back from extinction.

The crystal, which was developed by a team of researchers at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre, could also be used to create a record of plant and animal species faced with extinction.

It can hold up to 360 terabytes of information for billions of years and can withstand extreme conditions, including freezing, fires, direct impact force, cosmic radiation and temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius, the university said in a press statement published Thursday.

In 2014, the crystal was awarded the Guinness World Record for “most durable digital storage material.”

Kazansky’s team used ultra-fast lasers to inscribe the human genome data into voids as small as 20 nanometers (a nanometer is about one-billionth of a meter).

They describe the data storage on the crystal as 5D because the information is translated into five different dimensions of its nanostructures — their height, length, width, orientation and position.

“The 5D memory crystal opens up possibilities for other researchers to build an everlasting repository of genomic information from which complex organisms like plants and animals might be restored should science in the future allow,” said Peter Kazansky, a professor of optoelectronics, who led the team at Southampton.

The team had to consider who – or what – would retrieve the information, so far off into the future.

It could be an intelligence (species or machine) – or it could be found in a future so distant that no frame of reference would exist for it. To help whoever finds it, the researchers included a visual key.

“The visual key inscribed on the crystal gives the finder knowledge of what data is stored inside and how it could be used,” said Kazansky.

“Their work is super impressive,” said Thomas Heinis, who leads research on DNA storage at Imperial College London and was not involved in the study. However, he says questions remain about how such data could be read in the future.

“What Southampton presents probably has a higher durability, however, this begs the question: what for? Future generations? Sure, but how will they know how to read the crystal? How will they know how to build the device to read the crystal? Will the device be available in hundreds of years?” he added. “I can barely connect my 10-year-old iPod and listen to what I listened back then.”

For now, the crystal is stored in the Memory of Mankind archive, a time capsule within a salt cave in Austria.

In 2018, Kazansky and his team used the memory crystal technology to store Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy of science fiction books, which were then launched into space aboard a Tesla Roadster. The technology has also been used to store major documents from human history, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Magna Carta.

Earlier this year, scientists revealed a plan to safeguard Earth’s species in a cryogenic biorepository on the moon, intended to save species in the event of a disaster on our home planet.

Translation

科學家將整個人類基因組儲存在「記憶晶體」上，可以保存數十億年

CNN

 —

英國科學家將整個人類基因組儲存在「5D記憶晶體」上，希望將來可以將其用為使人類從滅絕中復活的藍圖。

這種晶體由南安普敦大學光電研究中心的一組研究人員開發，也可用於創建面臨滅絕的動植物物種的記錄。

該大學在周四發佈的新聞聲明中表示，它可以保存高達360 TB 的資訊數十億年，並且可以承受極端條件，包括冰凍、火災、直接衝擊力、宇宙輻射和高達1000 攝氏度的溫度。

2014年，該晶體被授予「最耐用的數位儲存材料」健力士世界紀錄。

Kazansky 的團隊使用超快雷射將人類基因組數據刻錄到小至 20 奈米（一奈米約為十億分之一公尺）的空間中。

他們將晶體上的資料儲存描述為 5D，因為資訊被轉換為奈米結構的五個不同方面 - 它們的高度、長度、寬度、方向和位置。

領導該計畫的光電子學教授彼得Peter Kazansky說:「5D 記憶晶體為其他研究人員建立一個永久的基因組資訊儲存庫提供了可能性，如果未來科學允許，可以從中恢復植物和動物等複雜生物體」。

團隊必須考慮誰（或什麼）會在遙遠的未來檢索這資訊。

它可能是一種智慧（物種或機器）- 或者它可能存在於遙遠的未來，以至於不存在於任何參考系。為了幫助找到它的人，研究人員添加了一個視覺鍵。

Kazansky說： “刻在水晶上的視覺鑰匙讓發現者知道裡面存儲了哪些數據以及如何使用這些數據。”

沒有參與這項研究的倫敦帝國學院 DNA 儲存研究負責人 Thomas Heinis 說:「他們的工作非常令人印象深刻」。然而，他表示，未來如何讀取這些數據仍有疑問。

他補充道:「南安普敦所提供的可能具有較高的耐用性，然而，這引出了一個問題：這是為什麼？我們的後代？當然可以，但是他們怎麼知道如何解讀這水晶呢？他們如何知道怎樣建造讀取晶體的設備？數百年後該設備會面世嗎？」。 「我幾乎無法連接我用了 10 年的 iPod 來聽回我當時聽的歌」。

目前，該晶體被保存在人類記憶檔案館中，這是奧地利鹽洞內的一個時間囊。

2018年，Kazansky和他的團隊使用記憶晶體技術儲存了Isaac Asimov的科幻小說《基地》三部曲，然後用Tesla Roadster將其發射到太空。該技術也被用來儲存人類歷史上的主要文件，包括《世界人權宣言》和《大憲章》。

今年早些時候，科學家們宣布了一項在月球用低溫生物樣本庫去保護地球物種的計劃，旨在當我們的家園星球發生災難時拯救物種。

              So, scientists have stored the entire human genome on a “5D memory crystal” in the hope that it could be used in the future as a blueprint to bring humanity back from extinction. But an expert has raised a few questions, such as: how will those who find it in the future will know how to read the crystal? That question leads me to recall the story about the Rosetta Stone that was found in July 1799 in Egypt.