Data That Lasts Forever - Science Of Stupid

Data That Lasts Forever

 In the 2002 movie The Time Machine, Alexander Hartdegen (played by Guy Pierce) creates a time machine and accidentally propels himself to the year 802,701 AD. While there (then?), he discovers the ruins of a building that contain a hologram from 800,000 years ago, and thousands of moviegoers collectively rolled their eyes at the idea that any type of data storage could last that long.   

Or can it? The Japanese company Hitachi has recently developed a data storage medium that can hold onto data – wait for it – forever. The square quartz glass sliver is a mere .08 inches thick and just .8 inches to a side. The chip stores binary data – up to 40Mb worth – in the form of tiny dots that can be read by a device as simple as a microscope – or any machine that understands binary, which is every machine.   

Furthermore, quartz glass is waterproof, chemical and radio wave resistant, and is able to last for two hours at 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, it’s like the Terminator of data storage compared to harddrives, compact disks, books – literally every other storage device we currently have. It’s extremely close to indestructible, meaning that it can withstand even the disasters that will eventually destroy the building it was made in. And hey, speaking of Terminators…  