There are four nucleic acids used as the rungs in DNA, CATG. I remember them in that order because cat-g works for my noggin.

I also remember which go together by the shape of the letters. T and A are all angular, so they go together. C and G are round, so they go together.

If you use those nucleic acids to represent zeros and ones, you have another form of data storage.

Many a fine science fiction novel have been written using this as part of the story premise.

Initially, scientists tried to 'write' DNA code to silica (industrial sand). Alas the write time was on the order of days and the reading process involved nasty acids.

But someone at MIT hit on the idea of reversing Jurassic Park. Instead of getting DNA from amber, how about writing to DNA to amber?

To make it even cooler, they named the process T-REX. The researchers dubbed their method T-REX (Thermoset-REinforced Xeropreservation).

Scientists managed to write the theme music to Jurassic Park and the Emancipation Proclamation to amber, and successfully read it.

Now, what happens if they take the DNA code for the theme song to Jurassic Park and stick it inside a living cell? :-)

Date: June 13, 2024
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology