1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hello everyone, and welcome to tech stuff. 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: My name is Chris Poulette and I am an editor 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,799 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. Sitting across from me, 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: as he typically does on these days, is senior writer 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. He there. Yeah, so we were we were 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: going to share some twisted logic with you today. Yes, 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: we wanted to talk about dioxy ribonucleic acid computers. DONA 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: is the DONA No, no no, the DONA NA d n 10 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: A computers And what is a DNA computer? What would 11 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,559 Speaker 1: it be? Because we're really in the very early stages 12 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: of using DNA for the reasons of uh purposes of 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: a computer. But what would a DNA computer be? Why 14 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: would we even use DNA? And what the heck is 15 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: this DNA stuff? Anyway, Well, you know, I've got a 16 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: USB port in the back of my head. So yeah. 17 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: He also woke up one day and he was in 18 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: a giant battery and he had to get down. Turns 19 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: out Chris is the one, and definitely we got but this, 20 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: you know, we got agents Smith showing up every other 21 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: day at the office and we're like, he's not here, 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: today's teleworking and us just irritating. But anyways, in the 23 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: matrix DNA, so DNA is is is important stuff. I mean, 24 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: this is a molecule that contains information that you know, collectively, 25 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: this information makes makes organisms what they are. Yes, and 26 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: uh and so biologically DNA is used to store information 27 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: and that is really the key there, you know, saying, 28 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: wait a minute, if DNA stores information for organisms, could 29 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: we use DNA to store information for other purposes? But 30 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: to to really explain this, DNA, it's this, it's it's 31 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,639 Speaker 1: that double helix molecule. You're probcing, Uh, you know, illustrations 32 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: of it. You may have built a model of it. 33 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: If you are in school, you may be studying this 34 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: so much that the terms I'm going to use you're thinking, wow, 35 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: he's really glossing over this. But it's because this is 36 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: tech stuff, not stuff to blow your mind. So we're 37 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: not going to go too deep into the cellular biology 38 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: aspect of DNA. Yes, And if you're looking for your 39 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: mind being blown, I'm sorry you've come to the wrong place. 40 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: Right now, DNA has a has a lot of instructions 41 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: in it. Yes, As it turns out, it's a very 42 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: tiny molecule with UH, with a very large capacity for 43 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 1: for carrying information. Yeah, if you were to actually stretch 44 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: out a DNA molecule and lay it lengthwise, it would 45 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 1: end up taking much more space than it typically does 46 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:03,119 Speaker 1: because it has this twisted three dimensional uh uh structure. 47 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: Hence my earlier dumb joke. Right, So this twisted structure 48 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: actually allows this this very dense UH storage medium to 49 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: exist in a relatively small volume of space. Yeah, because 50 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: you've twisted it. And you know, it's the whole thing 51 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: about UH conserving surface area and all that great stuff 52 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: that all my biologist friends go on and on and 53 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: on about and then I end up wandering away. Um. 54 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: But DNA has UH among many other attributes. There are 55 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: pairs of bases that that pair up in DNA, and 56 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: this is you know, the the structure of those The 57 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: sequence of those determines what information is stored in that 58 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: strand of DNA. Okay, So those four bases you have 59 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: at Anne, Citazine, Guani, and thyming and usually we just 60 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: call those A, C, G and T. And the way 61 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: that those are sequenced, like I said, within a strand 62 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: of DNA determines the type of information that that DNA holds. 63 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: Uh and uh, it's it's it's that that forms the 64 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: basis of the idea of using a DNA computer because 65 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: in our of course, in our our classic computer model, 66 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: we've got computers thinking quote unquote thinking in binary right, 67 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: zeros and ones and so uh. With using DNA. UH, 68 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: the approach right now is to associate certain of those 69 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: bases with zeros and the others with ones, and the 70 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: idea being that way you could sequence a DNA down 71 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: the length of a strand of DNA with these zeros 72 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: and ones. You encode a strand of DNA that way, 73 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,720 Speaker 1: and then you would decode it. You would read back 74 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: those those base pairings and that would determine whether each 75 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: pair was a zero or a one, and then you 76 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: would decode that into binary language, and thus you would 77 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: get back to whatever information you originally stored onto the DNA. UM. 78 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: This is it makes it sound pretty simple, but this 79 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: is high tech science stuff right now. Now. Granted, it's 80 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: high tech science stuff that we have made huge advances 81 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: in over the last two decades. Really, so things that 82 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: were seen as practically impossible two decades ago are things 83 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: that we do almost not quite routinely, but with a 84 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: greater ease than we could have expected. Yeah, but over 85 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: the course of of the last few decades. Um, it's 86 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: the kind of thing that when people see the double helix, 87 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: it's familiar. Um, you know, it's it's it's it's high 88 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: tech science. But it's in our public consciousness too, it's 89 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: in our DNA. There you go the fact that that 90 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: that's a a uh slang term, you know, for something. 91 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: When you say it's, it's basically you're saying it's deeply 92 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: ingrained in your personality or whatever you're saying that about. Um, 93 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's certainly something that that we're all 94 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: familiar with now, but only a few decades ago, you know, 95 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: it was completely foreign to us. Yeah. So yeah, let's 96 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: we'll do a quick, quick rundown of the history of 97 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: our knowledge about DNA, because clearly DNA has existed for 98 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: millions of years, but we've only really been aware of 99 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: it since about well, we knew something about it back 100 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty. Yes, when Freedrich Meischer, who was thank 101 00:06:55,880 --> 00:07:00,160 Speaker 1: you was he was a biologist from Switzerland and he 102 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: was looking at something pretty darn gross. He was looking 103 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: at bandages that had pus on them, and he isolated 104 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: DNA from the pus on the bandages, and he thought 105 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: that perhaps the this stuff that these nucleic acids, which 106 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: is DNA, is a nucleic acid. He thought that perhaps 107 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: this stuff might contain information in it that would determine 108 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: why stuff is the way it is so genetic information. 109 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: He thought that that probably did contain that information, but 110 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: there was no way for him to be able to 111 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: confirm it. He could not point to anything and say, see, 112 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: I'm right, So that had to wait for future scientists 113 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: to uh, to really dive into it, not not the 114 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: pus that big gross, but to really dive into the 115 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: information and study it and and figure out more details. 116 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: So Intree, some scientists at Rockefeller University, including Oswald Avery, 117 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: showed that DNA taken from a bacterium could make a 118 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: non infectious type of bacteria become infectious bacteria. So the 119 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: thought was that there must be some information from this 120 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: nucleic acid taken from one type of bacteria that could 121 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: transfer properties to a different bacteria that otherwise would not 122 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: have that infectious property. But what does it? Yes, that's 123 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:41,079 Speaker 1: kind of what everyone was saying. Well, there's some sort 124 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: of information holding material here. We don't really understand the 125 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 1: mechanism by which it stores information, nor how does it 126 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: impart that information or or replicated. We didn't know that 127 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: at the time. Uh. And then in nineteen fifty two, 128 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase showed that to make new 129 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: viruses bacteria fage virus injected DNA into the host cell, 130 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: which was important because previously it was thought that perhaps 131 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: it was through protein exchange, but instead of protein exchange, 132 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: it was DNA exchange. So that showed, yes, there's something 133 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: in this. This d N A is what is important. 134 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: And then came along Watson and Crick, Yes, James D. 135 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: Watson and Francis Crick. Yeah. They it was clear that, uh, 136 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: that people were already onto something. Hershey and Chase had 137 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: something there. And it was only a year later when 138 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: Watson and Crick, uh you know, made their announcement they 139 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: had discovered the structure of DNA, right, and so this 140 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: is when we started to really learn what how DNA 141 00:09:55,280 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: you know, forums and what shape it takes and why 142 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: that's important. And um so once all of that was taken, 143 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: once we learned all that, we began to see that 144 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,599 Speaker 1: these base pairings I was talking about, we learned that 145 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: they pair in very specific ways. You know, I mentioned 146 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: there are the four different bases. There's A, the A, C, G, T. Well, 147 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: half of those A and G are called purines. Uh, 148 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: C and T are uh perimidines. I'm glad you took 149 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: that part. Yeah me too, Uh, you know, way back 150 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:36,559 Speaker 1: when I was actually really good at biology. But man, 151 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: that was a few decades ago. So anyway of perings 152 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: and peri peri pyrimidines. Look, I can't even do it now, 153 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: periings of paramidines. Still glad you took that bond together, right, So, uh, 154 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: you don't get too purines bonding together, and don't get 155 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 1: two pyramidines bonding together. And to be even more specific, 156 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: A and T will bond together, and C and G 157 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: will bond together. All right, So that that means that 158 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: you know, you can't you're not going to get a 159 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: strand of DNA where A and C or A and 160 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: G are paired together. It does not happen. They structurally, 161 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: that doesn't happen. So uh that also dictates the rationale 162 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 1: behind using uh these pairings as zeros and ones because 163 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: you can either have UH. You can either have the 164 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: A T pairing or the C G pairing, right, so 165 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,079 Speaker 1: that that lets you say, okay, well that's binary. It's 166 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: either you you just designate that one means one, pairing 167 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: means zero, the other pairing means one. Um, if it 168 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: weren't that case, if we could have multiple pairing, multiple uh, 169 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: like like if A could pair with G instead of 170 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: just A and T, then you would say, all right, well, 171 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: now we've got system that goes beyond binary, which in theory, 172 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: if you completely change the way computers work, would mean 173 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: that you could dramatically increase parallel processing because you could 174 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: designate things. It would almost be like the cubits of 175 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:23,439 Speaker 1: a quantum computer, where you know, the basic explanation is 176 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: a cubit represents both a zero and a one and 177 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: all values in between in superposition of one another, and 178 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,599 Speaker 1: that if you have enough cubits you can perform a 179 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: massive parallel processing problem all at the same time because 180 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 1: those that that one group of cubits is behaving as 181 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: if it's uh, you know a huge number of traditional bits. 182 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: I think it's important to remember too that no matter 183 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: how many bases DNA has they all belong to us. 184 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: I knew it. I knew it. I was like, oh, 185 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: I was going to do an all your base I 186 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: belonged to us. If someone set us up the bomb 187 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: so well, it could be Actually, if you if you 188 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,079 Speaker 1: were trying to if those pairs become corrupted, they will 189 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: not work and uh and a cell can die. Actually, 190 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: we're getting a lot of this information to from our 191 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: our excellent article on how stuff works dot com about 192 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: how DNA works. It gets into a whole lot more detailed, right, Yeah, 193 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about and and it's 194 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: very accessible. It's a very accessible article. So if you're 195 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: curious about you know, you've always heard about d N 196 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: A and you've heard about DNA testing, and you know 197 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 1: about chromosomes and genes, but you're not really you know, 198 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: beyond that, you're kind of confused. I highly recommend you 199 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: read how DNA works at how stuff works dot com. 200 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: We also have an article on how DNA computers work, 201 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: which is pretty interesting because it's talking about an earlier 202 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,720 Speaker 1: era of DNA computers, but recent developments have really brought 203 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: it brought to lights some interesting uh, new technologies and 204 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: new use cases for d N a and we'll get 205 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: into those in a second. It's it's funny that you 206 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: say that, because I'm sure that people this is futuristic 207 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: enough where people are saying, what are you talking about 208 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: new developments? We haven't heard of a d N A 209 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,439 Speaker 1: computer before? But yeah, that's that's not really surprising. This 210 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: is the kind of thing, like like quantum computing, where 211 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: they've been working on it for some time, but it's 212 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: not at a point where they can really you know, 213 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: put something on a shelf and go look at this. Yeah, 214 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: where people really take notice of it. In general, this 215 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: is all stuff that's taking place in universities and research facilities, 216 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: and it's you know, most of these machines that are 217 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: being made now or or these implementations of using DNA 218 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: for information digital information are really in the prototype stage. 219 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: But we're getting the technology that allows us to create 220 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 1: these machines is becoming more and more sophisticated and less expensive, 221 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: which of course is key. It's huge any new Gordon 222 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: Moore explained that back in and when he did his 223 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: his paper about cramming more components onto an integrated circuit. 224 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: His point was not just that technology was advancing to 225 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: a point where we could shrink stuff down and fit 226 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: twice as many components onto a square inch of silicon 227 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: as we could a year ago. It was also that 228 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: the manufacturing process was becoming efficient enough and cheap enough 229 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: where that made sense. So same sort of thing here. Well, 230 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: all right, so we've we've determined that DNA contains information. 231 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: It because of its very structure, it can contain a 232 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: lot of information in a small volume. Uh. And then 233 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: it wasn't until about nine four, and I remember it 234 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: was the it was the fifties, the early fifties when 235 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: we started to really understand what DNA was and how 236 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: how it formed and how and its structured and everything 237 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: like that. In ninety four, a man named Leonard Edelman 238 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: came up with this idea. He sort of, uh introduced 239 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: the idea of using DNA to solve math problems. And 240 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: it was essentially this idea of coding DNA as if 241 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: it were a strip of binary code. And so he 242 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 1: took this idea and he sort of ran with it. 243 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: He began to formulate an idea about how to how 244 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: to create an experiment that could show that this would work. 245 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: And it's funny because it's talking about a DNA computer. 246 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 1: But if you read about the experiment, it sounds more 247 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: like someone in a chemistry lab mixing various chemical compositions 248 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,440 Speaker 1: together and then coming up with a solution at the 249 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: end of it. And that's it turns out that this 250 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: is a computational solution, not just a chemical solution. I 251 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 1: see what you did there, little word play there. Yeah, 252 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: it's a little a little incredible. So he yeah, he um, 253 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: dissolved my objections. So wait, let me read. I'll read 254 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 1: the steps from our article on DNA computers, because I 255 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: want to explain how this early early early implementation of 256 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: a DNA computer, how it how it played out, and 257 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: it's kind of amazing. All right. Here are the steps. 258 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,679 Speaker 1: Number one strands of DNA represent the seven cities. Now 259 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: when it says seven cities in here, what he was 260 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: doing was he was trying to solve something called the 261 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:26,480 Speaker 1: traveling salesman problem, also the directed Hamilton's path problem. The 262 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: idea being that you're supposed to find the shortest route 263 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: between a group of cities, and and it could be 264 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,760 Speaker 1: any number really of cities, but you have to only 265 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: go through each city one time. Um, and it becomes 266 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: more complex. This is this is why this is such 267 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: a fascinating problem. Uh As Jonathan pointed out to me 268 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: right before, he reminded me that this is something that 269 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: quantum computing is fascinated with because this is such a 270 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: I don't know what you call it, thorny, a thorny problem. 271 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 1: So it was that problem that they were were that 272 00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: he wanted to work on, and he chose, I believe 273 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: seven in cities, he said that as his benchmark I 274 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: wanted to do. And see, this is this is an 275 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: interesting problem for h in computers because think about it, 276 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: You've got seven cities. You can only travel through each 277 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: city once. You have to find the most efficient pathway 278 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: to go. Well, the way a computer would do this, 279 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: generally speaking, is to start going through every single possible 280 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 1: um permutation of that trip, going from city to city, 281 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: and determining which of those is the most efficient by 282 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,680 Speaker 1: the end of it by comparing them all, which can 283 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: take ages and as as of course, as you add 284 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: more cities, as you add complexity to the problem, it 285 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: creates an exponentially more difficult problem for the computer to solve. 286 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 1: You know, I don't think it's that unlike trying to 287 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: crack a password. In the in the you know, other 288 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 1: references we've made to these again, parallel processing. That's another 289 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: reason why quantum computers are very scary for anyone who's 290 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: in cryptography who wants to create good encryption, because they're 291 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: about using parallel processing to attack, you know, do a 292 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 1: brute force attack on a password. You can really reduce 293 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: the amount of time it would take you to crack 294 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: a password, like a password that would probably take you 295 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,400 Speaker 1: thousands of years in classic computer time might only take 296 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 1: an hour in using a quantum computer because it's using 297 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: that parallel approach. So just remember, quantum computing is the 298 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: cure for the common code. Man, what is it with 299 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:33,879 Speaker 1: you today? Chris is in a mood folks anyway, Alright, 300 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: so like getting back to getting back to this thing, 301 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: this this set of steps, all right. So Aedelman creates 302 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 1: strands of DNA that represent the seven cities. Uh, and 303 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: so it's these A, T, and CG pairings and then um, 304 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: these various sequences represent each city and possible flight path. 305 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: He then took the molecules that these strands of DNA 306 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,119 Speaker 1: A and mixed them in a test tube, and some 307 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: of the strands of DNA stuck together in a chain 308 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,840 Speaker 1: of those strands represented a potential answer to that question, 309 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: which of these you know, which route is the most efficient. 310 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: Within a few seconds, all of the possible combinations of 311 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,479 Speaker 1: DNA strands were created in the test tube, and then 312 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,440 Speaker 1: Edelman eliminated the wrong molecules through chemical reactions, which left 313 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: behind only the flight paths that connect all seven cities. 314 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:34,199 Speaker 1: So here he was doing chemistry and looking at molecules 315 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: by uh it was and it was biological chemistry because 316 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:44,879 Speaker 1: he was using organic DNA um and and trying to 317 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: come up with the answer that way, which is pretty 318 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: interesting to me. I mean, it looks that sounds so 319 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: different from the way we think of computing today, where 320 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 1: you're using microprocessors and you know, a user interface looking 321 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: at screen. This guy is using test tubes and molecules 322 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: um and he was actually thinking at the time that 323 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:05,480 Speaker 1: this would be DNA computing is going to be the 324 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: future because it packs so much information in such a 325 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: small form factor and it's plentiful because there's a lot 326 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: of life out there, and organic life relies on DNA heavily. 327 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: There's some that rely on RNA, but we're not going 328 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 1: to go into that. But Anyway, a great amount of 329 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 1: organic life out there has lots and lots of DNA, 330 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,919 Speaker 1: so that we've got plenty of materials to work from. Uh. 331 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: What's interesting is that since that time where his first 332 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,360 Speaker 1: experiments were showing the viability of a DNA computer, our 333 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 1: ability to sequence synthetic DNA has improved to the point 334 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: where organic DNA is not really what we care about anymore. 335 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: We can synthesize DNA in the lab and just make 336 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,159 Speaker 1: it ourselves so we don't have to um harvest it. 337 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: As Chris was saying in the pre show, you know, 338 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: it would be a totally different world if you realize 339 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: that your computer was running out a memory, so you 340 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: chucked another hamster into your machine so that you could 341 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: finish whatever it was you were doing. That was a 342 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: particularly gory idea. Well we didn't, but yeah, I left 343 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: out the part about the grinding noises, you know, and 344 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: for flying out the back you yeah, yeah, And I 345 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: thought that was my contribution. Um yeah. They University of Rochester. 346 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: There were some researchers that found ways to use DNA 347 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: to create logic gates. Again in the n it looks 348 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: like um so uh, and that's we've touched on on 349 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: several occasions, but that those logic gates are basically key 350 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: to classic computing. Yeah, this is what, uh, this is. 351 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 1: This is what allows the computer to dictate how information 352 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: moves through it so that it has any meaning. You know. 353 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: The logic gates essentially dictate whether the zero or one 354 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: that goes into the gate comes out at zero or 355 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: one on the other side or something. Usually it's a pair. 356 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,439 Speaker 1: If it's a zero and a one on the other 357 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: side of the gate, is that going to be a 358 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 1: one or zero? And it all depends on the type 359 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: of gate it is. UM And of course you you 360 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: can link a bunch of gates together to create all 361 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: sorts of different outcomes depending upon what the input is. 362 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 1: This is all very important from classical computing. So getting 363 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: to that step of being able to build logic gates 364 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: out of DNA it was pivotal if you want to 365 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: be able to eventually build a true DNA computer. And 366 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: again this is you know, you compare the components of 367 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: a DNA computer to those of a an inorganic computer. UM, 368 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: and we have, as a Jonathan pointed out, and Gordon 369 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: Moore's uh famous prediction that the transistors would double in 370 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: number per square inch of elicon. Back in the original prediction, UM, 371 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,880 Speaker 1: you know every you know over a certain period of time, 372 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: which again has changed, you know, year, year and a half, 373 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: two years. The thing is, Um, we're talking about a 374 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,479 Speaker 1: flat piece of silicon. And we've also talked about how 375 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: hard drives. The classical hard drive, UM, you know has 376 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: so much information on it. It's in a it's in 377 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: a flat plane. We've talked about electronic memory and how 378 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: you know this information is is getting stored, but we've 379 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: basically been talking two dimensional and and a long time 380 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: ago we talked about processors and how at some point, 381 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: due to the limitations of physics, like it's at some 382 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,920 Speaker 1: point electrons will begin to tunnel through layers of the 383 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: material used to create transistors, basically making them ineffective. So 384 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: at some point, theoretically the traditional transistor chip is going 385 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: to be so full that you cannot fill it anymore 386 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: without having syria. It's electrical problems. So they were talking 387 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: about going into three D processors. Well, d n a 388 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: kind of goes around that problem or is a natural 389 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: if you will solution. Hey, for once, that wasn't a 390 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: pun intended UM, because DNA is volumetric. It isn't It 391 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: can fit because of its its natural characteristics. It doesn't 392 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,879 Speaker 1: have to be in a two dimensional flat shape. You 393 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: don't have to stretch out the helix and stick it 394 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:33,680 Speaker 1: on a piece of silicon or whatever to make it work. Um, 395 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: and that gives uh, that gives computing so much more 396 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: advantage to move to a DNA based existence, right. Yeah. 397 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: The the challenge is building eloquently. The challenge is building 398 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: the equipment that allows you to sequence and decode that information, 399 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: because you know that's where that's where the bottleneck is 400 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: right now, is that the It's not simple. Yeah, you 401 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: have to get there. Yeah. But once we get to 402 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 1: a point where we're able to construct the DNA and 403 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: lay it out in such a way we were able 404 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 1: to pack in all that information, and then we have 405 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: the companion devices that can decode that and make it 406 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: meaningful to a computer again, then you're talking about some 407 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:25,920 Speaker 1: huge leaps in storage capacity. One gram of d N 408 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 1: a can store up to four hundred and fifty five 409 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: billion gigabytes of data, which is about a hundred billion 410 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: DVDs worth of information. Yea, yea. As a matter of fact, 411 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: this is the article that sort of uh turned me 412 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: onto this idea was something that my friends Kim and 413 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: Tim pointed out to me in the in the Guardian, 414 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: which really wasn't that long ago August two thousand twelve. 415 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: They started talking about how books had been encoded in 416 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: DNA um and that that got me to thinking and 417 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,640 Speaker 1: to suggesting this to Jonathan is a potential topic because 418 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: it's it's fascinating that d N a, something so small, 419 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: can hold that much information. And it's funny because the 420 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:17,680 Speaker 1: story goes it talks about how Professor George Church lead 421 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: this project and he belongs to UM. He well, he 422 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: teaches it. He teaches at Havid. But not just Harvard, 423 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: it's Harvard Medical School. This is this is one of 424 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: those weird things, uh that this this overlaps science, computer 425 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: science and h medicine. Yeah, and medicine. Yeah, so you've 426 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: got I'm sorry, physical science and medical science. Let's say 427 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: that right. That that's that's fine. That's a computer science 428 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:51,159 Speaker 1: and and medical science. It's it's multidisciplinary obviously, just like 429 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: nanobiology or nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary approach. So is this 430 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:03,360 Speaker 1: DNA computer or DNA storage idea. So what what Professor 431 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: Church did was they decided to take a book that 432 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:14,919 Speaker 1: was about five point to seven megabits of digital space 433 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: once you converted into digital information, and to encode that 434 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: as DNA. And um. They didn't do it just once. 435 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:33,120 Speaker 1: They decided to duplicate it a few times, seven seventy 436 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:39,440 Speaker 1: billion times, seventy billion copies of this book, which, according 437 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: to an article in Extreme Tech, prompted them to joke 438 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: that it made it the best selling book of all time, yes, 439 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,080 Speaker 1: and that it was. The seventy billion copies totaled about 440 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: forty four peda bytes of data. Um, so that is 441 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: slightly larger than the n A S I have attached 442 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: at my network at home. Yeah. Yeah, forty four pedo bites. 443 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: That's an incredible amount of information. It's also quite a 444 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 1: bit smaller my NA s. Yeah. So so when you 445 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: think about it, the the promise of DNA is that 446 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:21,200 Speaker 1: with a relatively small amount of DNA you could store 447 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: the sum total of all human knowledge in a very 448 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: tiny compartment, relatively speaking, a tiny compartment. And um, if 449 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: you're able to use that same sort of uh of 450 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: capacity in a processing way as opposed to just storage 451 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: storage is great. I mean, that's fantastic, The the the Uh, 452 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: this project was really showing how using DNA is great 453 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: for archival purposes if you want to store information for 454 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: longevity sake. And another point about that is that I 455 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: love this, Yeah, is that here's here's an issue that 456 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: we have with storing information. The way we access information 457 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 1: changes over time, and some of the they're they're multiple 458 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 1: problems here. Sometimes the way we store information, uh, we 459 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: store it on a medium that can decompose, which means 460 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: that as time passes, the likelihood that that data is 461 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: intact decreases. So let's say like a book. Okay, books 462 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: are susceptible to lots of different environmental factors that can 463 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: make them impossible to read. Right, So as time goes by, 464 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: a book's ability to preserve that information decreases, particularly depending 465 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: upon its environment. Yeah. And and one of the things 466 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: that's funny to me about this is and I'll keep 467 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: this short, but it's it's funny to me that in 468 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: a way, uh, the increase in technology um has only 469 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: increased the rate of data right as some people call it, 470 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,240 Speaker 1: Because you think about something like the Rosetta stone and 471 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: how long ago that was chiseled but it's still there 472 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 1: because hey, you know it's stone. If now, if you 473 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: left it out in the elements, eventually the the writing 474 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: on it will wear away due to the effects of erosion. 475 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: But um, that's longer lived than say paper, which could 476 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: be eaten by weevils, or could be affected by mold 477 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: or mildew or or even water or fire. Um. You 478 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,239 Speaker 1: know there there are many things acid in the paper. Um. 479 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 1: But but that would be longer lived than say, um, 480 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: a magnetic storage medium, which might may only live a 481 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: few decades because you've got with magnetic storage, Eventually that 482 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: magnetic properties starts to kind of and I have that 483 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: cop yeah, and I've had CDs and DVDs that I've 484 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: burned and a few years ago that are starting to 485 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: show signs of deterioration. And I'm thinking all this futuristic stuff, 486 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: it's kind of funny. This uff that's chiseled in stone 487 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: is still there. Well. And on top of all that, 488 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: besides the fact that you've got these media, these media 489 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: that will that can degrade over time. Um, magnetic definitely 490 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: is more susceptible that I would say, than optical storage. 491 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 1: But but both can can degree and both are susceptible 492 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: to damage. I mean, just about everything is. But but 493 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: the other problem is that we move away from those 494 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: older forms of media and eventually we get to a 495 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: point where nothing we have can read what we used 496 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: to use, or if you do have something that can 497 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: read it, it's a legacy system. So like keeping old 498 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: computers around simply to read those documents, right, Like, like 499 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 1: anything that's on an old five and a quarter inch 500 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 1: diskette from the early days of the personal computer, you know, 501 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 1: and I still have something. I would wager that most 502 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: people do not have easy access to such a disk drive. Um, 503 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: you know, especially if you're just kind of an average 504 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: user and you've gone out and you're like, oh, I 505 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:05,719 Speaker 1: want a new laptop. You go again. If you buy 506 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 1: a new laptop today, you might not even have an 507 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,120 Speaker 1: optical drive, which means that there you could come across 508 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: records of information that you have no way of accessing 509 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: because you do not have the tech capable of accessing it. Well. 510 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 1: D n A is a basic building block of organic life, 511 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: and so the idea is that because it's something so basic, 512 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: we will always have the ability and assuming that you know, 513 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,600 Speaker 1: we don't have some sort of post apocalyptic event, while 514 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: an apocalyptic event that then leads to post apocalyptic events. Um, 515 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,640 Speaker 1: then we should be able to have equipment that can 516 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: read this same information. Hey, do you have the instructions 517 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: on how to read DNA? Yeah, I say it on 518 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: that magnetic now here in Atlanta were used to post 519 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: apocalyptic events because we've got zombies. Yes, you may have 520 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: seen if you've watched the documentary The Walking Dead TV. 521 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: So um, yeah. The the idea was that this will 522 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: d n A does not degrade over time. Well, it 523 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 1: takes a much longer time than something like a paper book, right, 524 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: So since you're not worried about degrading. I mean when 525 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: I say it doesn't degrade over time, we're talking generations here, 526 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,800 Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of years. So yes, I wouldn't know. 527 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 1: I haven't. Eventually it will degrade, but for the foreseeable 528 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: future it won't. Uh. It takes up far less space. 529 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,359 Speaker 1: We don't have to worry so much about not being 530 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: able to access the information anymore because against the basic 531 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 1: building block, we will presumably be still be interested in 532 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:42,640 Speaker 1: DNA in the future. Uh. In fact, it become increasingly 533 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: interested as we learn more about how to uh to 534 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 1: tweet DNA to do things like fight off illnesses and 535 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: and other scientific applications of that knowledge. So that was 536 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,320 Speaker 1: kind of the whole point was that it's great for 537 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: archival and that reason it's gonna it's it's it's a 538 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: it's a more permanent solution in multiple ways. And UH, 539 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,400 Speaker 1: that's really where the focus is on the recent articles 540 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 1: that we've been reading, although there's still obviously quite a 541 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: bit of development on the research and about building a 542 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: true DNA computer that would uh have an incredibly small 543 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: form factor. I mean, you're talking about uh DNA being 544 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: the size of a couple of atoms, and this is 545 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: some small stuff. I mean, we could theoretically have a 546 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: DNA computer capable of performing huge calculations and storing an 547 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,400 Speaker 1: enormous amount of data in a tiny, tiny form factor. 548 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:45,920 Speaker 1: It would be amazing if we could look into the future, 549 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: maybe I don't know, twenty fifty years something like that, 550 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 1: where perhaps we have reached the point where this technology 551 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:57,719 Speaker 1: is viable and and reproducible and economic, where we could 552 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: see it in applications that actually the average consumer could access. 553 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 1: It wouldn't just be the realm of the scientific community 554 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:08,640 Speaker 1: or the research community. It would also be within our 555 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 1: grasp because then can you imagine you can have a 556 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:16,160 Speaker 1: smartphone that could literally contain all the data that we 557 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: have ever generated, ever since the dawn of man on 558 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:24,680 Speaker 1: your phone. I was waiting for you to go all 559 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,680 Speaker 1: the data. No, that was it, just all of all 560 00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 1: the data, um well, all the data we have access to. 561 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: Um there there. It's astounding to think of something uh 562 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: so common that has been with us for so long 563 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: being an answer and a fairly easy answer to a 564 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:47,839 Speaker 1: lot of these problems. I mean, like I said, it's 565 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,440 Speaker 1: not easy to get there. But the idea is like 566 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: really just DNA. As it turns out, you know, they've 567 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,880 Speaker 1: they've been using synthetic DNA to to run these experiments, 568 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: and there are some drawbacks. One of where is it 569 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,879 Speaker 1: can't be rewritten. That is true. So once you write 570 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,759 Speaker 1: that data, it's that's another reason why people are talking 571 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:11,480 Speaker 1: about for archival purposes. Once you write the data, that's it. Now. Granted, 572 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,759 Speaker 1: you're talking about a construct that's so small that you 573 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: could keep doing that indefinitely and not have to worry 574 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:23,279 Speaker 1: about taking up too much space. But right now, right, 575 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,239 Speaker 1: but but you know you can't you can't always think 576 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:31,280 Speaker 1: that way, because someday that will catch up to you apparented. 577 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,239 Speaker 1: That might be when we're actually saying, hey, hey, we 578 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:35,880 Speaker 1: finally got a plan on how to get off this 579 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,760 Speaker 1: rock because the sun's gonna swallow us up in another 580 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 1: million years. That that would never happen. By the way, 581 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: don't don't write into me and explain to me why 582 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: that would be ridiculous. I understand. I was just using 583 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: that as a an example. Well, and and the other 584 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,880 Speaker 1: thing is, um, you know, And yes, I realized that 585 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,600 Speaker 1: this is you know that you could destroy DNA, but 586 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: um thinking about that, the sensitive information can't be erased, 587 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,759 Speaker 1: then you would need to keep up with your Let's 588 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 1: say you had a DNA drive like you have a 589 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: flash drive to carry back and forth with you, uh, 590 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 1: and it gets lost and it had I don't know, 591 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: important sensitive documents related to national security or um, you know, 592 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: the secret um uh copy of your unpublished book, and 593 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: somebody else runs across it and makes billions of dollars 594 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,239 Speaker 1: off of it because they found it. You can't you 595 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,360 Speaker 1: can't remotely wipe that information. I don't know how you 596 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 1: would do that without without physically destroying the material. So 597 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 1: it's that's sort of a uh, a minor drawback really, 598 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,360 Speaker 1: but it's something it's it's something very different from the 599 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,279 Speaker 1: media that we typically talk about so clearly in that case, 600 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,160 Speaker 1: you would be talking about, all right, well, now we've 601 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,400 Speaker 1: got this incredible archival ability. Now we have to figure 602 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 1: out a way of securing it. Well, don't see that. Well, 603 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,439 Speaker 1: and this brings me to my brilliant science fiction idea, 604 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,439 Speaker 1: which I I said in the pre show. I said, 605 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:12,000 Speaker 1: if if someone steals this, I will find you. See. 606 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: That was my That was my like shout out to 607 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 1: your no, no, I'm sharing it because if someone out 608 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: there makes this, I want to cut. So here's the 609 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,400 Speaker 1: sci fi idea. Guys. You have a character who is 610 00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,640 Speaker 1: just an ordinary guy or girl, you know, someone who 611 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:31,719 Speaker 1: is going through life and they've got the same sort 612 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: of challenges and problems and joys and despairs as all 613 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,320 Speaker 1: the rest of us. But then suddenly they noticed that 614 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,319 Speaker 1: they're being watched and people are closing in on them, 615 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 1: and they don't know why because they're just a normal person, 616 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:45,960 Speaker 1: and so they're trying to get away, and it turns 617 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:50,400 Speaker 1: out they find out that they themselves are a synthetic 618 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: life form. They were built in a lab from the 619 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 1: ground up, and in fact, their DNA contains this incredibly 620 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: important information. In coded into this person's very being is 621 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,719 Speaker 1: a secret message of such import that various forces are 622 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,959 Speaker 1: closing in on them, determined to get hold of this person, 623 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 1: lop off a finger and figure out what the heck 624 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 1: is going on, And so the character has to go 625 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,399 Speaker 1: through this incredible series of adventures in order to figure out. 626 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: It's kind of a journey of self discovery as well 627 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,880 Speaker 1: as protection. And there's a whole like hero arc and 628 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,840 Speaker 1: the credits are great and Bruce Willis stars and I 629 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 1: want to cut I've got data under my skin, are 630 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: in it and through it. So, guys, yeah that was 631 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: I'm sure someone's gonna write in and say, yeah, that 632 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:43,160 Speaker 1: was a great story when so and so wrote years ago. 633 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,400 Speaker 1: I want to read it. Yeah, yeah, I I have 634 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: no illusions that someone has not already come up with 635 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,160 Speaker 1: that idea. But if they haven't, and then you guys 636 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:52,600 Speaker 1: think that's a great idea and you want to go 637 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 1: out and make it. Remember, I want to credit and 638 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 1: some money or at least a sandwich. Come on, writer's 639 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,759 Speaker 1: gotta eat all right, assassinating stuff though it's it's the 640 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: kind of thing that I would never have thought to do. 641 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,480 Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean I'm blown away by that. Yeah, 642 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,319 Speaker 1: it's a it's a pretty fascinating subject. And like we said, 643 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,839 Speaker 1: there's that we have some great articles on how stuff 644 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,000 Speaker 1: wor actually can go and check those out and read 645 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,000 Speaker 1: up on DNA and DNA computers and you know, like 646 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: I said, there are the articles on the Guardian as 647 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 1: well as other places that are talking about this storage 648 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:29,080 Speaker 1: medium and it blows my mind. I'm really really excited 649 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 1: to hear more about this and to see it develop 650 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,440 Speaker 1: over time, because in another decade or so, the technology 651 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,880 Speaker 1: may be there where this is not such a a 652 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: huge task and we could see like the entire Library 653 00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:46,759 Speaker 1: of Congress stored in a computer that fits in a 654 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:50,359 Speaker 1: drop of water. Yeah, it's pretty amazing, it is, alright, guys, Well, 655 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,920 Speaker 1: if you have any other topics you would like us 656 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 1: to cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, stuff that 657 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: will truly shake the tech world to its knees, or 658 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 1: maybe just think that's kind of cool, let us know. 659 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,839 Speaker 1: You can email us. Our address is tech Stuff at 660 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 1: Discovery dot com, or drop us a line on Facebook 661 00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:10,440 Speaker 1: or Twitter or handle. There is tech stuff. H. S 662 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 1: W and Chris and I will talk to you again 663 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,920 Speaker 1: really soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 664 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,520 Speaker 1: Because it has stuff works dot com