When I am reborn, I just want to be a top student

How many bytes are in 2 clock cycles?

KB, MB, GB, TB, PB, with PB being the last one, which stands for petabyte.

One gram of DNA can hold 2 petabytes of information, which translates to 2048 TB or 2097152 GB.

If each movie is 10GB, it can store 200,000 movies.

And this is only a mere one gram.

How much can one gram of DNA material be? It's less than the size of a fingernail.

Without a doubt, if Wang Donglai's statement is true, then this technological breakthrough will have an enormous impact on the world.

More importantly, this technology provides some technical support for the sci-fi future that Wang Donglai described.

Wu Qingsong had already keenly realized that Wang Donglai had not brought up this topic without a reason; there must have been a reason.

After thinking for a moment, Wu Qingsong asked, "Academician Wang, I haven't heard of this DNA storage technology before. But if your company has made such a breakthrough in this technology, why didn't you announce it at the summit?"

Wang Donglai glanced at Wu Qingsong strangely, then asked casually, "Boss, how many people do you think want me dead right now?"

Wu Qingsong's face stiffened.

He then realized that Wang Donglai had long been a thorn in the side of certain people.

The reason is simple: the impact of the technologies developed by Wang Donglai is immense.

It has affected so many people and ruined so many people's path to wealth.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

Therefore, the number of people who harbored murderous intent towards Wang Donglai was definitely not small.

Moreover, and more importantly, these people are not only from overseas, but there are probably quite a few in China as well.

It's just that the domestic environment is better, and it hasn't reached that level of lawlessness yet.

Even so, Wang Donglai had already arranged for corresponding security personnel to protect him covertly.

As it turned out, this was not a wasted effort.

They did indeed prevent two 'accidents,' and the relevant departments have already investigated the details.

It was because of the rise of Galaxy Technology that their interests were damaged, so they hated Wang Donglai.

The fact that the working group that just came from Beijing specifically mentioned upgrading Wang Donglai's security level shows just how powerful and frightening the technology Wang Donglai announced at this technology summit is.

If they were to release this DNA bio-storage technology, that would be even more remarkable.

Just as Wu Qingsong was thinking this, Wang Donglai added, "Boss, there's actually another reason."

"Currently, we haven't made a breakthrough in this technology. We haven't overcome the key technical hurdles yet. We can only store some simple information. Maintaining stability and fully developing it will likely take us a long time."

The more Wu Qingsong listened, the more interested he became, and he said, "Academician Wang, could you give a brief explanation of this technology?"

Wang Dong glanced at Wu Qingsong and readily nodded in agreement.

"I just talked about the advantages of DNA storage technology. Now I'll talk about its disadvantages."

"First of all, data integrity is a major issue. Since DNA storage technology is still in its early stages of development, ensuring that data is not damaged or lost during long-term storage remains a challenge."

"Compared to traditional electronic storage devices, the process of reading and writing data in DNA storage is more complex and time-consuming."

"DNA synthesis depends on a series of chemical reactions. The DNA replication rate of E. coli is 1000 bases per second. If it is 200MB of data, it will take about 19 days to complete."

"In addition, the high cost is also a problem that cannot be ignored."

"Currently, the cost in this area is 50 to 70 cents per base, and eight bases can encode one character, so synthesizing 200MB of data would require 28 billion."

"However, these problems can all be solved with the development of technology, so they are not too big of a problem."

"As for the relevant technical principles, they are actually quite simple. As we all know, DNA is a double helix structure with four chemical groups, namely nucleobases, which are arranged in a specific order to form genetic information."

"Digital storage systems also utilize these four base 'letters,' but they develop custom codes that are completely different from the 'language' used by living organisms."

“We can encode the data into multiple repeating DNA fragments, each with index details to pinpoint its location within the overall sequence.”

"Although this design seems redundant, its advantage is that even if some segments are damaged, the data will not be lost."

"To read this information, standard equipment in a molecular biology lab can be used to convert DNA sequences into digital information and display it on a computer screen in real time."

Wu Qingsong was somewhat speechless. He wasn't uneducated, but Wang Donglai's behavior left him unsure of what to say.

He silently muttered a complaint in his mind.

"I just mentioned the amount of data. According to estimates, the amount of information generated on Earth every day now far exceeds the total amount of information generated in the past five thousand years of human civilization."

"Approximately 44 ZB, or 44 billion GB, can be generated in a year. How many silicon chips would be needed to store this data?"

"It would require approximately one million tons of silicon-based chips, not one million tons of silicon-based materials!"

Wang Donglai emphasized this point.

"With such a large amount of information, theoretically only one kilogram would be needed using DNA technology."

“In the last century, in 1988, David and others in the West used DNA to encode a Gurman rune.”

“In 2012, a Western scholar at Church used DNA synthesis technology to store a book, which included 53426 words, 11 pictures and 1 JavaScript program, totaling 5.27MB.”

"In 2016, the University of Washington and Microsoft Research collaborated to encode 739KB of data, including Shakespeare's sonnets, Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, and medical papers, into DNA sequences and store them. They then used carefully designed primers to mark the address of each file on the DNA sequence for random and rapid data retrieval."

"In 2017, Erlich and others also did it, with even higher storage density. They also coded an operating system (movie 1) that could run and play Minesweeper."

Through Wang Donglai's explanation, Wu Qingsong has gradually grasped the key points.

I know that Galaxy Technology must have made a breakthrough in some aspect, otherwise they wouldn't say that.

Sure enough, Wang Donglai brought up this point next.

"As I just mentioned, we have made a breakthrough in DNA biological storage technology. The breakthrough is that we have developed the world's first information synthesis instrument, which works on a similar principle to a 3D printer."

"By using nanoscale nozzles, bases are sprayed onto designated locations, thereby achieving on-demand DNA delivery."

"Currently, the daily output of this equipment has reached one million units." "With further technological breakthroughs, it will increase further."

Wu Qingsong nodded, pinpointing the problem incisively, and said, "The speed of base replication can be solved by this information synthesis instrument, but how can the speed of DNA synthesis be solved?"

Wang Donglai burst out laughing when he heard the question.

"Boss, a year's worth of global data can be stored with just one kilogram of DNA material. How difficult could it be to synthesize a thousand DNA samples?"

Wang Donglai almost burst out laughing when he said this.

Wu Qingsong realized he had asked a stupid question and couldn't help but look embarrassed.

"Leader, the development of DNA biological storage technology is actually of great benefit to the development of modern biomedicine."

"That means we can use this technology to extract the data and information hidden inside our bodies."

"The DNA fragments in our bodies contain information from our ancestors, including the landscapes they saw and the germs they came into contact with."

"To take it a step further, we could even turn ourselves into a super-large capacity storage device, storing all the information we have seen, heard, and tasted."

"Of course, technology still needs to be continuously developed to achieve this."

Wang Donglai seemed to be both looking forward and stating a fact.

Hearing Wang Donglai say that, Wu Qingsong also came to his senses.

"Such technology is indeed exciting, but it will probably be a long time before we can achieve it."

"And the sci-fi future that Academician Wang mentioned involves far more than just this one technology; there must be many more technological breakthroughs to be made, right?"

"For example, is it an energy issue?"

Wang Donglai's smile remained unchanged as he confidently stated, "The energy issue is actually quite simple!"

"Energy is an essential material foundation and guarantee for human survival and development, and together with water, air and food, it constitutes the necessary conditions for human survival."

"Throughout history, after the basic transition from firewood to coal and from coal to oil and gas, the way humans utilize energy has gradually transitioned from the 'firewood era' to the 'coal era' and from the 'coal era' to the 'oil and gas era'."

"Now, thanks to breakthroughs in technologies such as solid-state batteries, photovoltaics, and wind power, we can foresee that we will be entering a true 'electricity era'."

"Because the 'electricity era' in the past was essentially still relying on boiling water to generate electricity."

"The true 'electric age' is one where we are no longer limited to boiling water, and we can convert solar energy into electricity, wind energy into electricity, and these are all clean energy sources."

"Of course, relying solely on technologies like solar power, wind power, and tidal power is far from sufficient to meet the global electricity demand."

"Therefore, if we want to leave Earth and explore the universe, we need to find a more realistic and usable power generation model."

"Many people have placed their hopes on controlled nuclear fusion and thorium-based molten salt reactors."

"The technical principle of controlled nuclear fusion is even simpler. It releases energy by simulating the hydrogen nuclear fusion reaction inside the sun, burning seawater, and producing helium as waste, with no greenhouse gas emissions."

"Each liter of seawater contains 0.03 grams of helium, which can generate the energy of 300 liters of gasoline. This can be said to be the most economical energy source."

"As for the thorium-based molten salt reactor technology, we also have thorium reserves of more than 1.4 million tons. Each ton of thorium generates electricity equivalent to 3.5 million tons of coal, which can theoretically meet the domestic electricity demand for 20,000 years."

"Moreover, molten salt fuel operates at atmospheric pressure and can be automatically cooled in the event of an accident, eliminating the risk of core meltdown."

"Furthermore, thorium is a byproduct of rare earth minerals, and the extraction cost is extremely low. 300 grams of thorium can be obtained for every ton of rare earth minerals extracted, which can be described as a win-win situation."

Wu Qingsong frowned slightly and asked, "Judging from Academician Wang's words, he seems to have some ideas about these two technical solutions. Could you elaborate?"

Wang Donglai naturally understood that Wu Qingsong was testing him, but he didn't care.

"Actually, in my opinion, I am more optimistic about the second technical solution."

"Thorium-based molten salt reactors, as one of the important directions of fourth-generation nuclear fission technology, have great advantages in safety, fuel utilization, and nuclear waste management."

"However, in actual development, there are still many problems, one of which is the need to solve the problems of materials and corrosion."

"Molten salts are extremely corrosive to metallic materials at temperatures exceeding 700 degrees Celsius, and traditional stainless steel and nickel-based alloys cannot withstand them for long periods."

"In addition, the chemical reactivity of fission products in molten salt, such as tellurium and fluorides, will further accelerate material corrosion, leading to a shortened reactor structural lifespan."

"Neutron irradiation in molten salt can cause materials to become embrittled, swollen, and undergo changes in microstructure, especially in the core container and pipes."

"Therefore, only a qualified material can solve this problem."

"And I think this problem is not necessarily difficult to solve."

"Artificial intelligence technology can play an important role in materials research and development."

"To put it bluntly, materials research and development is really just a matter of luck. There are so many substances in nature, and with the influence of external factors such as temperature and processing, there are countless combinations. If we rely solely on human experimentation, it will take a very long time."

"However, by using artificial intelligence technology to perform simulation calculations, a lot of time can be saved."

"This has already been demonstrated and yielded results!"

"As for the other two challenges of thorium-based molten salt reactors, online separation technology and power generation system integration, the difficulty may not be as great as imagined."

As Wu Qingsong listened to Wang Donglai's words, he suddenly had a strange feeling.

It was as if there were no problems at all when Wang Donglai was around.

Any global problem becomes solvable with Wang Donglai that the difficulty is reduced in the same way.

"Academician Wang, is what you're saying true?"

At this moment, Wu Qingsong no longer knew how to describe his feelings.

If what Wang Donglai said is true, then it would be of great significance.

Logically speaking, given the numerous records set by Wang Donglai, Wu Qingsong shouldn't have asked such a question. However, the significance of the question was so immense that Wu Qingsong still asked it.

Wang Donglai nodded and said, "Actually, these aren't that difficult. As long as you're good at math, it shouldn't be a problem!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Qingsong wanted to hit someone.

These words were so harsh and hurtful! (End of Chapter)