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Is a Nano-structured Glass Chip The Future Of Data Storage?

As technological development progresses, we often get glimpses of what the world of tomorrow will look like. This time the glimpse comes from the scientists at the University of Southampton and is in the form of a transparent glass poker chip.

Actually made from nanostructured glass, the poker chip is able to store five dimensional (5D) digital data through the use of femtosecond laser writing. The figures about this chip are staggering- 360 TB/disc data capacity, virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature or 13.8 billion years at 190°C (that is about as old as the universe currently is) and thermal stability up to 1,000°C! And I’m sitting here with a mere 120GB SSD…

It seems then that the future of data safekeeping is bright, bringing us one step closer to what can be achieved through technology. Professor Peter Kazansky, from the Optoelectronics Research Center to the University of Southampton, says: “It is thrilling to think that we have created the technology to preserve documents and information and store it in space for future generations. This technology can secure the last evidence of our civilization: all we’ve learned will not be forgotten.”

Boyko Cholakov

Boyko is a little bit of a Linux junkie. We tried keeping him away from this drug for a while but at the end of the day - why fight your instincts? You can always count on him providing insights and digging deep to find the core of your issues, exterminating them like an annoying weed in your garden.

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