Scientists have encoded the entire human genome into a ‘5D memory crystal.’ In the event of extinction, this could be discovered by some conscious entity and bring our species back to life. The disk is as durable as quartz and can last for billions of years.
Researchers have created a special “5D memory crystal” that holds the encoded human genome. This crystal is meant to ensure that if humanity ever faces extinction, our genetic code will survive. Even if that doesn’t happen, future intelligent beings could still find it, even billions of years from now. Tech billionaire Elon Musk suggested storing “all of the human knowledge”.”We should write all of human knowledge into these crystals,” said Musk in a post on X. (Source)
For more than ten years, the best material for storing data has been crystal. In 2014, a team of researchers led by Professor Peter Kazansky from the University of Southampton created a special kind of glass disc. This disc can store 360 terabytes of data and last for 300 quintillion years at room temperature. Even if heated to 374 degrees Fahrenheit, it will still last as long as the universe has existed—about 13.8 billion years. It can also handle extreme heat, cold, pressure up to 10 tons per square centimeter, and cosmic radiation. This makes it the Guinness World Record holder for the most durable digital storage medium. With concerns about today’s unreliable digital storage, this crystal disc is one of the best options for safely keeping electronic information.
The crystal can survive high temperatures, pressure, and cosmic radiation, and it even holds the Guinness World Record for the most durable storage medium. With concerns about how long today’s digital storage methods will last, this crystal is seen as a perfect way to keep important information safe for the future.
Prof. Kazansky’s team is working on putting the entire human genome, which is 3 billion characters long, onto a crystal the size of a coin. The researchers use lasers to write the DNA code into tiny holes in the glass that are only 20 nanometers wide.
Unlike regular storage methods that only use two dimensions, the crystal combines “two optical dimensions and three spatial coordinates,” which is why they call it “5D.”
Inspired by the Golden Discs sent on the Voyager mission, this crystal also has a guide to explain how it works. It includes drawings of humans, basic elements like hydrogen and oxygen, the structure of DNA, and other key details needed to create a human. Prof. Kazansky and his team admit that current technology can’t use the disk fully yet. But with advances like the creation of a synthetic bacterium in 2010, there’s hope that someday humans, plants, and animals could be made artificially.
“We know from earlier research that we can create genetic material from simple organisms and bring them to life in the lab,” Prof. Kazansky said. “The 5D memory crystal opens new doors for scientists to create a long-lasting store of genomic information, which could help revive complex life forms like plants and animals, if science advances enough.”
“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.”
The crystal containing the human genome is stored in the Memory of Mankind archive, which is a time capsule located in the world’s oldest salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria. If all goes well, it will remain there until needed, although we hope that time never comes.
Prof. Kazansky said that while we can’t yet create humans, plants, or animals from just genetic information, the 5D crystal could store this information for the future when such technology might exist.
He referred to Dr. Craig Venter’s team, who created a synthetic bacterium in 2010. “We know from other work that simple organisms’ genetic material can be made and used in a lab to create a living specimen,” said Prof. Kazansky. “The 5D crystal could allow researchers to store genomic information forever. This way, if future science makes it possible, plants and animals might be restored.” (Source)
The crystal is kept in the Memory of Mankind archive, a special time capsule in a salt cave in Hallstatt, Austria.
The university spokesperson added, “When designing the crystal, the team thought about the possibility of it being found by another species or machine far in the future. It could be so far in the future that there’s no context for the data.”
The key shows basic elements (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen), the four DNA bases (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine), their structure, how they fit into the DNA double helix, and how genes go into chromosomes that can be inserted into a cell. Prof. Kazansky explained, “The key on the crystal helps anyone who finds it understand what data is inside and how to use it.”
