Researchers tout progress towards protein-based memory device
There's certainly no shortage of research going on into unconventional means of storage, but one of the most unusual has to be protein-based storage, which we haven't heard much of in quite a while. That now looks to have changed, however, with some researchers in Japan boasting that they've made some considerable progress with the so-called "recordable proteins." To that end, Tetsuro Majima and his team reportedly employed a special fluorescent protein to record an information pattern on a glass slide, along with what's described only as a "novel combination of light and chemicals" to read and, most importantly, erase that information. While it's obviously a long ways from replacing your hard drive, the researchers apparently see no shortage of potential applications for the technology, including using the proteins to improve biosensors and diagnostic tests.
[Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]
