Catalog

DNA molecules can preserve information in the form of unique sequences of base pairs for thousands of years and at incredibly high density. (A blob of DNA the size of a sugar cube could store a billion gigabytes, as much as a large data center.) Catalog uses robots to encode digital data, such as text or the pixels in a JPG photograph, in the form of short, prefab­ri­cated DNA blocks or identifiers that can be stored in powder or liquid form, then reassembled and decoded later in a sequencing machine.