Convert text to dna sequence and vice versa!
Data storage in dna (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a promising solution to the problems faced by current storage systems, such as the physical size of the infrastructure, the amount of energy required for its operation and its very limited lifespan.
As is often the case, we are inspired by nature to find and apply solutions to the problems we face in our current systems.
To give you an idea, our current digital data storage infrastructures are as big as football pitches and cost several million euros to maintain per year. In addition, they pose serious energy and ecological problems.
by storing our data on dna sequences, we would be able to put the equivalent of an entire datacenter the size of a football field in a volume equivalent to a vial, and this storage could be exponentially sustainable!
Here is an explanation for this:
DNA is the blueprint for our entire organism: it is present in each of our cells. It takes the form of a long 'string', made up of several elements, the nucleotides: adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine:, abbreviated A, T, G, C. the "thread" of dna in a cell is 2 metres long.
If we took all the Dna from all our cells, we would be able to go around the solar system! Moreover, Dna lasts over time, unlike our current storage media which last a maximum of 10 years: the oldest Dna that could be decoded is 700,000 years old!
You begin to understand why dna seems to be a promising and durable storage medium for the future.
image credits : Forluvoft, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Thanks to current technologies, we are now able to read, modify and rewrite these 4 elements, on more and more powerful devices, and less and less expensive: this is why I propose here a script which makes it possible to convert and deconvert normal text into a dna sequence, in the form of the 4 nucleotides which compose it: A, T G and C, in the hope that it can be used in a near future!