Gallatin Professors Peder Anker and Mitchell Joachim embedded DNA into kelp for an architectural exhibit heralding the future of data storage.
Gallatin Professors Peder Anker and Mitchell Joachim embedded DNA into kelp for an architectural exhibit heralding the future of data storage.
It’s normally a disaster if water spills on your flash drive, phone, or laptop. But for the future of data storage, the solution might just be under the sea. In a new exhibit, Gallatin Professors Peder Anker and Mitchell Joachim present a green alternative for saving large amounts of information—kelp.
“The issue of data storage is emerging more and more as a big topic of environmental concern, and we were interested, specifically, in how the storage of knowledge in architecture has changed over time,” says Anker.
Anker, a history scholar of science, ecology, environmentalism, and design, says that while methods have evolved from troves of dusty scrolls to computers, the future of data storage is organic. It’s a concept that scientists have pursued in the early 21st century, but hasn’t found a widespread, practical use.
Read More: New York University
Image: Coding Plants exhibit at La Biennale di Venezia Architettura, 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, Italy. Photo courtesy of Terreform ONE via New York University.
