Tag: memory

Petabyte Brain

The brain’s memory capacity is in the petabyte range. Salk researchers and collaborators have achieved critical insight into the size of neural connections, putting the memory capacity of the brain far higher than common estimates. The new work also answers a longstanding question as to how the brain is so energy efficient, and could help engineers build computers that are incredibly powerful but also conserve energy.

DNA memory

When stored on most conventional storage devices—USB pens, DVDs, or magnetic tapes—data starts to degrade after 50 years or so. DNA could hold data error-free for millennia, thanks to the inherent stability of its double helix and Reed-Solomon codes. If kept in the clement European air outside their laboratory in Zurich, they estimate a ballpark figure of around 2000 years. But place these glass beads in the dark at -18C, the conditions of the Svalbard Global Seed Bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, and you could save your photos, music, and eBooks for 2M.

and using CRISPR to store movies:

We use the CRISPR–Cas system to encode the pixel values of black and white images and a short movie into the genomes of a population of living bacteria. In doing so, we push the technical limits of this information storage system and optimize strategies to minimize those limitations. They also uncover underlying principles of the CRISPR–Cas adaptation system, including sequence determinants of spacer acquisition that are relevant for understanding both the basic biology of bacterial adaptation and its technological applications. This work demonstrates that this system can capture and stably store practical amounts of real data within the genomes of populations of living cells.

another approach:

Roswell is bringing the $100 genome that can scale rapidly and also deliver Exabyte data storage.

Memory loop

On March 14, 2005 “William O” received an anesthetic for root canal surgery. The next morning when William woke up, he thought it was still March 14 and that he had a dentist appointment. He’s had the same impression for the last 3800+ days.

DNA rewriting for memory

We used to think that once a cell reaches full maturation, its DNA is totally stable, including the molecular tags attached to it to control its genes and maintain the cell’s identity. Some cells actually alter their DNA all the time, just to perform everyday functions

2021-08-30: DNA breaks for memory consolidation

When the team mapped genes undergoing double-strand breaks in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of mice that had been shocked, they found breaks occurring near 100s of genes, many of which were involved in synaptic processes related to memory. DNA breakage might be a regulatory mechanism in many other cell types. But even if breaking DNA is a particularly fast way to induce crucial gene expression, whether for memory consolidation or for other cellular functions, it’s also risky. If the double-strand breaks occur at the same locations over and over again and aren’t properly repaired, genetic information could be lost. Moreover, “this type of gene regulation could render neurons vulnerable to genomic lesions, especially during aging and under neurotoxic conditions. It is interesting that it’s used so intensively in the brain, and that the cells can get away with it without incurring damage that’s devastating.”

Dementia Village

Today, the isolated village of Hogewey lies on the outskirts of Amsterdam in the small town of Wheesp. Hogewey is a cutting-edge elderly-care facility where residents are given the chance to live seemingly normal lives. With only 152 inhabitants, it’s run like a more benevolent version of The Truman Show, if The Truman Show were about dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. Like most small villages, it has its own town square, theater, garden, and post office. Unlike typical villages, however, this one has cameras monitoring residents every hour of every day, caretakers posing in street clothes, and only 1 door in and out of town, all part of a security system designed to keep the community safe. Friends and family are encouraged to visit. Some come every day. Residents at Hogewey require fewer medications, eat better, live longer, and appear more joyful than those in standard elderly-care facilities.

Memristors, perhaps

this will enable very interesting architectures. something to keep ourselves busy with while we mourn the passing of moore’s law.

The Machine is a hyper-dense collection of computing hardware that could be used in anything from a data center to a mobile device. It has terabytes of storage and a much smaller power draw than today’s computing devices—all because of memristor-based memory and optical interconnects.