Main content

Keeping data forever

We look at three radical new ways to save data: writing inside glass, saving information to tiny magnets, and using the code of life – DNA – to save files.

Could your family photos end up being stored on a piece of glass? Might you find yourself saving a file to DNA storage? Or downloading a video from a data centre in space?

Current methods of storing information are susceptible to decay and have limited capacity but novel approaches could provide plentiful storage so that our selfies outlast our species.

Reporter/ Producer William Kremer for the BBC World Service.

Picture credit: Southampton University

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Tue 1 Sep 202021:06GMT
BBC World Service

More episodes

Previous

The tech doctors forecasting heart failure

Next

A happier planet

See all episodes from People Fixing The World

Broadcasts

  • Tue 1 Sep 202007:06GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Tue 1 Sep 202014:06GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Tue 1 Sep 202015:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Tue 1 Sep 202021:06GMT
    BBC World Service

People fixing the world on YouTube

People fixing the world on YouTube

Watch stories of people changing their world on the World Service English YouTube channel