Great or “Goofy”?

Sometimes we reject new ideas because they seem goofy. In fact, we may pass them by, without giving them a second thought. And you know what? We are the wacky ones!

Here is an example of an idea that I once might have laughed at, but which, indeed, might one day be called the “disk drive of the 21st century”! And it is none other than E. coli bacteria!

What? Are we going nuts?

According to an article last month on the Discovery News website, researchers in Hong Kong have found a way to compress data into chunks that can be placed in individual E. coli cells, so that just one gram of E. coli could store the same amount of data as 450 2-terabyte hard drives. Further they have mapped the cells so that it is easy to find specific data later … and they’ve created a system to protect the data from cyber threats.

What of the companies that have made a fortune on hard drives? Will they go the way of the telegram? Who knows? But there is a lesson to be learned here: examine any new idea dispassionately and without any preconceptions.

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