Storing Passwords in Molecules: An Innovative, Yet Limited Method
Scientists encrypt password using molecular structure
Step into the realm of the extraordinary as researchers at the University of Texas discover a mind-blowing technique to store long passwords within a diminutive molecule. The destructive decryption of these molecular packages could potentially revolutionize data storage!
Industry Buzz: Praveen Pasupathy, co-author, shares: “Molecules can store information for a very long time without requiring energy.”
These super-sized molecules, like DNA, have been known for their ability to safeguard vast amounts of data, sans power—but accessing such data has been costly and time-consuming. But fear not, as the clever Texan researchers have found a solution! They've figured out how to encode an eleven-digit password within a plastic molecule—that's right, plastic! This groundbreaking discovery can then be deciphered using electrical signals, bringing us one step closer to storing information within everyday materials.
Key Insight: First author, Eric Anslyn, notes: “This brings us one step closer to storing information in an everyday material.”
Lasting Power
Considering conventional storage devices, such as hard drives and flash drives, have drawbacks like elevated maintenance costs, energy consumption, and a brief lifespan, making them unfit for long-term data archiving, plastic molecules might just be the solution we've been waiting for.
Previous research already hinted at DNA and synthetic polymers' capabilities to effectively store information. However, decoding these molecules usually demands expensive machinery like mass spectrometers. But with plastic molecules, data could be accessed using more manageable and cost-effective devices!
A Promise Broken Every Time You Unlock
The team developed an alphabet of four diverse monomers, or molecular building blocks, with unique electrochemical properties. Each character consisted of various combinations of these building blocks, forming 256 possible characters.
To test their theory, they employed this molecular alphabet to store an eleven-digit password ("Dh&@dR%P0W¢") within a polymer, a snaky, chain-like molecule.
Insight: Anslyn mentions: “Each building block had a unique electrochemical property, and this gradual breakdown revealed the stored information.”
However, there's a catch: each molecular message can only be read once, as the polymer meets its demise during the decryption process. So, if you're eager to access your password, you'll have to exercise a little more patience! Though, the team is working diligently to hasten the decoding process.
For now, it takes approximately 2.5 hours to decode an eleven-digit password with their method, but remember, Rome wasn't built in a day! Anslyn cheerfully declares: “...a first step towards the ultimate goal of developing portable, integrated technologies for data storage on a polymer basis.”
So, while molecular storage offers a captivating solution for long-term data preservation with the potential for cost-effective and widely accessible technology, it currently encounters limitations in speed and scalability. Conventional methods, such as hard drives and flash drives, are quicker and more scalable, but they consume energy and boast shorter lifespans.
Source: ntv.de, kst
- Science
- Computers
The researchers' innovative method of storing passwords within plastic molecules image a potential revolution in data storage, as scientists like Praveen Pasupathy and Eric Anslyn believe these molecules can store large amounts of data without power.
The discovery of encoding an eleven-digit password within a plastic molecular structure and deciphering it using electrical signals is a significant step towards storing information within everyday materials, including polymers, marking a step closer to portable, integrated technologies for cost-effective and scalable data storage on a molecular basis.
