700 TB of data was stored in DNA

I read about this a while back! I even saved the link on reddit because I thought it was interesting... Here's a comment a redditor made from the viewpoint of someone who studies/studied biology:

Hey guys, biology student here and longtime lurker. Just wanted to help out some of you guys who are trying to get a better understanding of the implications of this research and to clear up some misconceptions.First off, this research as far as I can tell is more about technology rather than discovering new scientific principles. The techniques that the Church team used are not novel, but they've accomplished two things that haven't been done before.
First off, they've stored a MASSIVE amount of data in the form of DNA (using the two base pairs A-T and C-G as 0's and 1's). DNA is life's ubiquitous data storage material and co-opting it for our own data storage purposes is perfectly natural. According to Wikipedia[1] , the largest genome we know of is an Amoeboid at 6.7E11 bp (base pairs). 700 terabytes here is equivalent to 5.6E15 bp so the Church team has superseded nature by 4 orders of magnitude. That's a pretty incredible feat.
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I won't copy/paste the whole thing, but it's worth reading in its entirety here:



 
Think of this!

Take a DNA sample of a person. Insert a message to the future into the DNA and place it back into the person, if possible.

We'd never see the result, but it could blow the minds of people in the distant future!!! I can also see:

- organic storage devices using real DNA

- the development of an artificial brain using such storage devices

This could also potentially explain why personalities are passed on from family member to family member, family hand writing is similar, etc.

I wonder how much information about ourselves is automatically stored to our DNA? Some debate that even memories could be, which would explain "past lives". (I'm just speculating here).

 
.... Take a DNA sample of a person. Insert a message to the future into the DNA and place it back into the person, if possible. We'd never see the result, but it could blow the minds of people in the distant future!!! ....
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DNA is very unstable and is not suitable for transferring a message through time, even if in a person. Everything destroys it - heat, ultra violet light, radio - active radiation even in small doses, viruses incorporate their code in it, bacteria eat it, various chemical agents degradate it. The human cells have a very efficient mechanism for protecting the DNA from external influence and to repair it, and even though, the DNA damage accumulates inevitably with the time, during the life of the organism, and nothing so far can stop this damage accumulation. Plus DNA is being changed in the natural process of the evolution.
If you want a message for the generations, better do it on the good old way - take a stone and engrave it.

 
Think of this!Take a DNA sample of a person. Insert a message to the future into the DNA and place it back into the person, if possible.
We'd never see the result, but it could blow the minds of people in the distant future!!! .
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DNA Sequencing :
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Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony 5, first movement, with a graphical score :



 
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