Storing data with "molecular firecrackers"

--:--
Your personal data could soon be stored not on a phone or server but locked inside a molecule so tiny it's invisible to the naked eye. Researchers have cracked the code on storing digital information in synthetic molecules called polymers - long chains of anything from plastic to protein made from building blocks known as monomers. Each monomer sends out a unique electrical signal that a special electrochemical technique can decode, turning these tiny sequences into passwords or secret messages. This game-changing technology could redefine data security without relying on traditional storage... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
22 May English United Kingdom Science

Other recent episodes

Finland's giant virus, and monkeys take care of their teeth

In the eLife podcast, a university compost heap has turned up Finland's first documented "giant virus". Also, why monkeys de-sand their supper, and how learning more languages actually makes brain tissue thinner. Then, the link between sugar and neonatal sepsis, and how a cancer controls its hydra host by bestowing…
19 Jun 38 min

Naked Scientists SOS

Cambridge University have informed us that, for cost cutting reasons, they intend to make Dr Chris Smith redundant. Naturally, this jeopardises the Naked Scientists programme, which is produced under his role. He will also lose his medical job. We regard this as a terrible decision and we intend to protest…
16 Jun 3 min

Insect extinctions, and AI shot in the arm for drug design

In episode 10 of the Cambridge Prisms Podcast, the shocking finding that as many as 2 invertebrate species are going extinct each week in Australia: what can be done? Also, the shot in the arm that AI is administering to the drug discovery industry, how do you measure the microplastic…
5 Jun 37 min

Brain-invading bacterium is making fruit flies extra frisky

What if a parasite could rewire your brain - not to harm you, but to make you... more romantic? This week on The Naked Scientists, we're exploring the bizarre world of Wolbachia - a bacterium that turns female fruit flies into mating machines. Marushka Soobben with the story... Like this podcast?…
18 May 4 min

Speedy, soft robot powered by air alone

Using only soft tubes and a continuous stream of air, a team of researchers at AMOLF in Amsterdam have created one of the fastest and simplest soft robots to date. Marushka Soobben with the story... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
12 May 6 min