Never mind using DNA to store data -- there may be a simpler way to store info. Brown University scientists have shown that it's possible to store data in solutions of artificial metabolic molecules, such as amino acids and sugars. The presence or absence of a given molecule creates one bit of data, and the complexity of the mixture decides how many bits that mixture can hold. After that, it's a matter of placing thousands of mixtures on tiny metal plates as nanoscale droplets -- you use a mass spectrometer to decode the data once the droplets have dried.