From:	"Leszek Karlik, aka Mike" <trrkt@*****.ONET.PL>
Subject:	Real Life catching up with Shadowrun?
Date:	Tue, 19 May 1998 01:54:49 +0000

Hmmm...

OK, here's a nice bit I've found in US Air Force News Service from
14th May 98.

/begin quote:

980650. AFRL-Rome awards contract to convert bacteria for storage

ROME, N.Y. (AFNS) -- Syracuse University researchers will investigate
ways to turn a San Francisco Bay bacteria into a mass storage medium
under terms of a two-year, $2.1 million contract with the Air Force
Research Laboratory Information Directorate.

The contract, "Protein-Based Optical Memory Development," will develop
a prototype optical memory system using an organic protein known as
bacteriorhodopsin, a light-absorbing molecule that is distilled from a
bacteria that grows in salt marshes.

"When you fly into San Francisco and the bay has a purple color,
that's the bacterium in high concentration," said Bernard J. Clarke,
program manager in the directorate's Information and Intelligence
Exploitation Division. "We hope to use the protein from the bacteria
as the active ingredient in a memory media that will allow us to store
the equivalent of 100,000 books on a single source."

"The crux of the Syracuse University research will be how to
encapsulate the protein so that it retains its qualities without
drying up," said Clarke, adding that three-dimensional optical memory
systems using the protein would be an interim advancement, before
memory systems envisioned using synthetic DNA.

An optical storage media of synthetic DNA, potentially capable of
storing the contents of all American research libraries on a single
disk, was recently selected as a finalist for the 1998 Discover Awards
for Technological Innovation. The technology was developed by
Nanotronics Inc. of San Diego, Calif., under a Small Business and
Innovative Research contract with the Information Directorate.

"While the DNA storage has greater long-term potential, the use of a
protein-based media is simpler and closer to reality," Clarke said.
"We hope to turn thick disks or cubes into early 21st century memory
vaults for massive amounts of data."

/end quote.

Hmmm... Optical Memory Chips, here I come! <grin>


Leszek Karlik, aka Mike - trrkt@*****.onet.pl; http://www.wlkp.top.pl/~bear/mike;
Amber fan and Star Wars junkie; UIN 6947998; WTF TKD; FIAWOL; YMMV; IMAO; SNAFU; TANJ
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It's been Monday aaaaaaaaallllllll week!