A prototype USB drive using bug protein to store data in the neighborhood of around 50 terabytes worth of data could be here in less then 18 months. This idea first started out by coating DVDs with a layer of protein so that one day solid state memory could hold so much information that storing data on your computer hard drive will be obsolete, says Professor V Renugopalakrishnan of the Harvard Medical School in Boston while reporting on his findings at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane this week.
“What this will do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely,” he says. Renugopalakrishnan says high-capacity storage devices like the new protein-based DVDs will be essential to the defense, medical and entertainment industries. These trade in terabytes of information with the transfer of information such as satellite images, imaging scans and movies. “You have a compelling need that is not going to be met with the existing magnetic storage technology,” he says.
Renugopalakrishnan says the new protein-based DVD will have advantages over current optical storage devices (such as the Blue-ray). It will be able to store at least 20 times more than the Blue-ray and eventually even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes) of information, he says. Membrane proteins These membrane proteins are being used to generate the first protein-based information storage system to store terabytes of information The star at the centre of the high-capacity DVD is a light-activated protein found in the membrane of a salt marsh microbe Halobacterium salinarum. The protein, called bacteriorhodopsin (bR), captures and stores sunlight to convert it to chemical energy.
When light shines on bR, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules each with a unique shape and color before returning to its ‘ground state’. The intermediates generally only last for hours or days. But Renugopalakrishnan and colleagues modified the DNA that produces bR protein to produce an intermediate that lasts for more than several years, which paves the way for a binary system to store data. “The ground state could be the zero and any of the intermediates could be the one,” he says. The scientists also engineered the bR protein to make its intermediates more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data.
The flip side Renugopalakrishnan says making large amounts of information so portable on high-capacity removable storage devices will make it easier for information to fall into the wrong hands. “Unfortunately science can be used and abused. Information can be stolen very quickly,” he says. “One has to have some safeguards there.” In conjunction with NEC in Japan, Renugopalakrishnan’s team has produced a prototype device and estimate a USB flash drive will be commercialized in 12 months and a DVD in 18 to 24 months. The work has been funded by a range of US military, government, academic institutions and commercial companies, as well as the European Union.
Source: ABC News Australia
Well, Christmas is over. And what a Christmas it was! This will most likely go down in history as one of the best Christmases that I have ever had, and ever will have. Both Sergei and Zhenya showed up for the present-opening, and for Christmas lunch. also in attendance throught Christmas were Jeremy and Annemarie Morgan, who spend much more time at our house than they do at their own. Also, Corey and Johnny Locke were there. and all four of those just mentioned got their own presents. Corey got $50-$60 total in three Gamestop cards from different people, and John got two Gamestop cards, and Top Spin 2 for Xbox 360 ( he loves Xbox tennis). and they do not even live at our house. Jeremy and Annemarie both got several presents from several people. I got to Cds, and a 256 MB card of RAM for my computer. that is not much, but they are all expensive. My computer now runs much better. The CDs that I got were one by As I Lay Dying, and Decyfer Down, both of which I absolutely love. On the night before Christmas Eve (we opened our presents on Christmas Eve), we had a power outage for at least an hour, which was very interesting, as everyone was watching a movie or playing a video game. We had a nice short Christmas sermon at church on Monday. The Present-Opening ceremony… uh… havoc, will be one that will be remembered by all of the attendees, for most of their life, as the loudest, most happy Christmas ever!
First, Windows makes the ******* mistake of making Vista. Then… plop. Vista = failed. Dell now sells XP computers, with the option of Vista, the reverse of what it was a month ago. Dell sells Linux computers, now (ones that obviously used to have a Windows insallation on them, because of the configuration.). Now… Microsoft has announced that it is coming out with a third service pack for XP. WHAT?!?! We LEFT Vista, because we LIKE XP THE WAY IT IS!!! and, on top of all of that ****, nothing usefull is in the service pack, and Windows is saying that we can get the service pack, but we should get Vista, instead, since it is “better” A.k.a.: nothing usefull is in the service pack Windows is just getting desperate for ways to get people onto Vista.
*comment was deleted by admin for profanity*(jk)
Apparently, this(Tuesday), is the last day of school before our Christmas break begins At first, I thought that it was going to be Wednesday, but, according to popular rumor, Mom is going to declare tomorrow a Teacher Day, so she can catch up on some paperwork. We will either be taking a week and a half off, or two weeks, most likely. Tomorrow night, our church is having a Christmas Party, and we are going to have a blast! Whew. I could use a break.
Today, it was… probably around 30 degrees, i’ll bet. there was a light snow, but not enough for any of it to stick for even a couple of seconds. It was really nice.We celebrated Mom’s birthday today, it was a lot of fun. and a lot of pizza and Stargate. she got Bourne Ultimatum, and we just finished watching it.
Tuesday. Nightmare. Fun. End Of The World. National Sore Day. National Watch-Stargate-Until-You-Die Day. Whatever you want to call it. It was very… uh… full. I woke up at seven o’clock to get ready to go raking. we left about 9:20, probably. We got there probably around 9:30, and started raking the Lamey’s yard. We did the entire thing in a little less than two hours, getting probably forty or so bags. We then went home, and started our yard at 11:30. We did until 12:30, when we stopped. We went to Ci-Ci’s, and ate a lot of pizza. Then, on the way out of the door, we learned that Charlie had escaped. We got home, and looked for him for about 30 minutes. Then I asked Mom to let me off at the and of our cul-de-sac, so I could search the storm ditch. As soon as I got out of the car, I could hear him barking. He had cornered a cat under it’s own porch, and, when I was halfway there, he pounced on it. They wrestled for a little while, and they separated for a couple of seconds, during which I was able to keep him from doing it again. I looked at the cat, and it appear to be… not bleeding. I was surprised that it was not. I thought that he had probably killed it. Or himself. But both of them appeared to be visually uninjured. I took him home. We spent the rest of the day listening to O’Neill’s jokes, half-asleep. and VERY sore. Needless to say, the next day, I did not feel good. Oh, well. As I like to say, being sore is merely your body telling you that you need to rest and level up.
I am still here! and still busy! so it might be a while before posts get back to normal level.
I am sorry that I have not said anything in a while, we have been incredibly busy as of late. but… I am back!
Trey’s Writing for 12-3-2007
Journal Entry
“My Fifteenth Birthday”
Well, I am fifteen now. Wow. Scary thought, isn’t it? Well, I had a very fun birthday/birthday party. In fact, it was probably one of the best of my life. We celebrated ot a lunch, and I got a bit more presents than usual. Jeremy, Annemarie, John, and Corey all came over, and Z was planning on it, but he did not wake up until three o’clock. In all, I got three movies, namely, Santa Claus 3, Man From Earth, and Rudy, which, according to popular rumor, is a rather good movie. I got a total of $33, not counting a $15 Amazon gift certificate that has not arrived yet. I got four rechargeable AAA batteries, an OU sweater and matching cap, a bunch of Tootsie Rolls (uh… yeah.), a bottle of Ranch Dressing (no, really), and a couple of other things that I cannot think of right now because my brain is dead, but I will still die if someone realizes that I forgot their present. Also, and this is a biggie, Dad gave us all ten seasons of Stargate SG-1 as an advanced Christmas present. We played video games without having to use time on both Friday and Saturday, and Oklahoma beat the number one ranked team in the nation on Saturday, 38-17. On Sunday, we had a Christmas Singing… thing that was a lot of fun, except I only existed during half of it. Overall, I would say that I had a fairly good birthday, dont’cha think? I just cannot wait to star driving, and get a job, even though Dad will not let me take the test until I am fifteen and a half, so he does not have to train me for an entire year. It is hard to think that I am actually fifteen, the age that I have wanted to be for several years. But I have to finish this day’s writing pretty quick, I cannot afford to be late on my school, if we are to achieve our all-important goal of finishing all seasons of Stargate SG-1 by the end of the year.
