How we can store digital data in DNA | Dina Zielinski

翻译人员: Wendy Wu 校对人员: SHUYING XU

I could fit all movies ever made inside of this tube.

我可以把有史以来的所有电影 装进这个小管里。

If you can't see it, that's kind of the point.

如果你看不见它，那就对了。

(Laughter)

（大笑）

在我们理解这件事的可能性之前，

Before we understand how this is possible,

it's important to understand the value of this feat.

重要的是先理解这项技术的价值。

All of our thoughts and actions these days,

现在我们所有的想法和行动，

through photos and videos --

通过照片和视频——

even our fitness activities --

甚至是我们的健身运动——

are stored as digital data.

都存储在电子数据里。

Aside from running out of space

要不是它们超出我们

on our phones,

手机的存储空间，

we rarely think about our digital footprint.

我们很少会去想我们到底 存储了多少电子数据。

But humanity has collectively generated more data

但是人类已经携手创造了更多的数据，

in the last few years

在过去的几年中，

than all of preceding human history.

这些数据比先前 人类历史所产生的还要多。

Big data has become a big problem.

大数据已经开始成为一个大问题。

Digital storage is really expensive,

数字化存储很昂贵，

而且还没有一个设备 能真正经得起时间的考验。

and none of these devices that we have really stand the test of time.

There's this nonprofit website called the Internet Archive.

有一个非营利网站， 叫做“网络档案馆”。

In addition to free books and movies,

除了免费的书籍和电影，

you can access web pages as far back as 1996.

你还可以在上面找到 1996年以来的网页。

Now, this is very tempting,

这可是非常诱人的，

but I decided to go back and look at the TED website's very humble beginnings.

但我决定回过头来， 看看TED网站最初的样子。

As you can see, it's changed quite a bit in the last 30 years.

可以看到，它在过去30年里改变了很多。

So this led me to the first-ever TED,

这使我回忆起第一次的TED，

back in 1984,

回到1984，

and it just so happened to be a Sony executive

太巧了，正是索尼的主管

explaining how a compact disk works.

在解释一个简单的磁盘是如何工作的。

(Laughter)

（大笑）

Now, it's really incredible to be able to go back in time

这是让人难以置信的事， 我们可以回到过去，

and access this moment.

并且与那个时刻紧密相连。

It's also really fascinating that after 30 years, after that first TED,

这也是非常让人着迷的事， 在第一次TED演讲过去的30年后，

we're still talking about digital storage.

我们还在谈论着数字化存储。

Now, if we look back another 30 years,

如果我们回头看看另外一个30年，

IBM released the first-ever hard drive

1956年，IBM破天荒地发布了

back in 1956.

它的第一个硬盘驱动器。

Here it is being loaded for shipping in front of a small audience.

这是它正在被装载上车， 一小群人在围观。

It held the equivalent of one MP3 song

它承载着一首MP3歌曲的内容，

and weighed over one ton.

却重达一吨多。

At 10,000 dollars a megabyte,

一兆字节价值1万美元，

I don't think anyone in this room would be interested in buying this thing,

我想这里不会有人有兴趣要买它，

除非可能作为一个收藏品。

except maybe as a collector's item.

But it's the best we could do at the time.

但这是我们在当时最好的产品了。

We've come such a long way in data storage.

我们在数据存储的路上走了很久。

Devices have evolved dramatically.

设备已经显著进化了。

But all media eventually wear out or become obsolete.

但所有载体最终都会磨损或被废弃。

If someone handed you a floppy drive today to back up your presentation,

今天，如果有人递给你一张 软盘驱动器来备份你的演示文稿，

you'd probably look at them kind of strange, maybe laugh,

你可能会奇怪地看着他们， 可能还会大笑，

but you'd have no way to use the damn thing.

但你肯定不会用这个落伍的东西。

These devices can no longer meet our storage needs,

这些设备已经不能再 满足我们的存储需求了，

虽然它们有些可以被改作其他用途。

although some of them can be repurposed.

All technology eventually dies or is lost,

所有的科技最终都会死亡或者消失，

along with our data,

和我们的数据一起，

all of our memories.

包含我们所有的记忆。

There's this illusion that the storage problem has been solved,

有一种错觉认为存储问题已经解决了，

but really, we all just externalize it.

但实际上，我们只是把它外化了。

We don't worry about storing our emails and our photos.

我们不担心邮件和照片的存储。

They're just in the cloud.

它们都在云端上。

But behind the scenes, storage is problematic.

但是在这些场景背后， 存储问题依然存在。

After all, the cloud is just a lot of hard drives.

毕竟，云端只是许多硬盘组成的。

Now, most digital data, we could argue, is not really critical.

我们认为大部分电子数据都不重要。

Surely, we could just delete it.

当然，我们还可以 轻易地删除这些数据。

But how can we really know what's important today?

但是今天的我们怎么 知道到底什么是重要的？

We've learned so much about human history

我们从人类历史中得到了很多信息，

from drawings and writings in caves,

从洞穴里的壁画和文字，

from stone tablets.

还有石碑。

We've deciphered languages from the Rosetta Stone.

我们破译了罗塞塔石碑上的语言。

You know, we'll never really have the whole story, though.

尽管我们还远没有了解整个故事。

Our data is our story,

我们的数据就是我们的故事，

even more so today.

这在今天更是这样。

We won't have our record recorded on stone tablets.

我们不再将记录刻在石碑上。

But we don't have to choose what is important now.

我们现在也不需要去选择 什么是重要的。

There's a way to store it all.

有一种方法可以存储所有信息。

It turns out that there's a solution that's been around

我们发现，这种解决方案已经存在了

for a few billion years,

数十亿年。

and it's actually in this tube.

它实际上就在这个小管里。

DNA is nature's oldest storage device.

DNA是大自然最古老的存储设备。

After all, it contains all the information necessary

毕竟，它保存着构建和 维持一个人生命的

to build and maintain a human being.

所有必要的信息。

But what makes DNA so great?

然而，DNA为何如此强大？

Well, let's take our own genome

让我们来看看

as an example.

人类的基因组，

If we were to print out all three billion A's, T's, C's and G's

如果我们将所有30亿个A（腺嘌呤）， T（胸腺嘧啶），C（胞嘧啶）

on a standard font, standard format,

和 G（鸟嘌呤），以标准字体， 标准格式打印出来，

and then we were to stack all of those papers,

然后我们把所有纸张叠起来，

大概会有130米高，

it would be about 130 meters high,

somewhere between the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.

介于自由女神像和 华盛顿纪念碑的高度之间。

Now, if we converted all those A's, T's, C's and G's

如果我们将所有这些A，T，C和G，

to digital data, to zeroes and ones,

转换为电子数据，0和1，

it would total a few gigs.

这不过是几场演奏会的事。

And that's in each cell of our body.

这会发生在我们身体的每个细胞中。

We have more than 30 trillion cells.

我们有超过30万亿的细胞。

You get the idea:

估计你们已经想明白了：

DNA can store a ton of information in a minuscule space.

DNA可以在一个微小的 空间存储大量信息。

DNA is also very durable,

DNA也是持久耐用的，

and it doesn't even require electricity to store it.

它甚至不需要供电来储存信息。

We know this because scientists have recovered DNA from ancient humans

我们知道这些，是因为科学家 已经从生活在千万年前的

that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago.

远古人类身上复原了DNA。

One of those is Ötzi the Iceman.

其中一个是Ötzi冰人。

Turns out, he's Austrian.

他是奥地利人。

(Laughter)

（大笑）

He was found high, well-preserved,

他被发现时正完整的保存在

in the mountains between Italy and Austria,

意大利和奥地利之间的山中，

and it turns out that he has living genetic relatives here in Austria today.

证明他和现在的奥地利人有基因关系。

So one of you could be a cousin of Ötzi.

所以你们其中有人可能是Ötzi的表亲。

(Laughter)

（大笑）

The point is that we have a better chance of recovering information

其中的关键是，我们拥有 更好的从一个远古人类身上

修复信息的机会，

from an ancient human

比从一台老电话上获得的更多。

than we do from an old phone.

It's also much less likely that we'll lose the ability to read DNA

同时，相较于任何一种 人造的设备，我们不太可能失去

than any single man-made device.

解读DNA的能力。

Every single new storage format requires a new way to read it.

每一种新的存储格式都要求 一种新的解读方式。

We'll always be able to read DNA.

而我们将一直保持解读DNA的能力。

If we can no longer sequence, we have bigger problems

如果有一天我们 不能够进行基因排序，

than worrying about data storage.

那问题可比数据存储更令人担忧。

Storing data on DNA is not new.

在DNA中存储数据不是新鲜事。

Nature's been doing it for several billion years.

大自然在数十亿年中一直这么做。

In fact, every living thing is a DNA storage device.

事实上，每一个生物 都是一个DNA存储设备。

But how do we store data on DNA?

但是我们怎么把数据存储进DNA呢？

This is Photo 51.

这是照片51。

It's the first-ever photo of DNA,

这是第一张DNA的照片，

taken about 60 years ago.

拍摄于大约60年前。

This is around the time that that same hard drive was released by IBM.

也是大约这个时间， IBM发布了硬盘驱动器。

So really, our understanding of digital storage and of DNA have coevolved.

可以说，我们对数字化存储的理解 和我们对基因的理解是在同步进化的。

We first learned to sequence, or read DNA,

我们最开始是学习测序， 或者解读DNA，

and very soon after, how to write it,

之后很快也学会了如何编辑它，

or synthesize it.

或者合成它。

This is much like how we learn a new language.

这很像如何学习一门新语言。

And now we have the ability to read, write and copy DNA.

而现在我们有能力阅读、 编辑和复制DNA。

We do it in the lab all the time.

我们一直在实验室里这么做。

So anything, really anything, that can be stored as zeroes and ones

所以，毫不夸张的说， 任何东西可以以 0 和 1的形式

can be stored in DNA.

存储在DNA中。

To store something digitally, like this photo,

要以数字化的方式存储 某些内容，比如这张照片，

we convert it to bits, or binary digits.

我们要先把它转换为比特， 或者二进制数字。

Each pixel in a black-and-white photo is simply a zero or a one.

黑白照片中的每个像素 就代表一个 0 或 1。

And we can write DNA much like an inkjet printer can print letters on a page.

我们可以像喷墨打印机 打字一样书写DNA。

We just have to convert our data, all of those zeroes and ones,

我们只要将数据，所有这些 0 和1，

to A's, T's, C's and G's,

转换为 A，T，C，G，

and then we send this to a synthesis company.

然后将它们发送到合成公司。

So we write it, we can store it,

这样一来，我们既可以 书写，也可以存储，

and when we want to recover our data, we just sequence it.

当我们想要恢复数据， 只需要测序就好。

Now, the fun part of all of this is deciding what files to include.

有意思的部分是决定要包含哪些文件。

We're serious scientists, so we had to include a manuscript

我们是严肃的科学家， 所以我们必须留下一份手稿

for good posterity.

给我们优秀的后代。

We also included a $50 Amazon gift card --

我们还放入了一份 价值50美元的亚马逊礼卡——

don't get too excited, it's already been spent, someone decoded it --

别激动，里面的余额已经被移除了——

as well as an operating system,

还有一个操作系统，

one of the first movies ever made

人类制作的第一部电影，

and a Pioneer plaque.

和一个“先驱者号”金属板。

Some of you might have seen this.

你们中可能有人见过它。

It has a depiction of a typical -- apparently -- male and female,

它包含了代表性的信息， ——显然，包括男女性别，

and our approximate location in the Solar System,

还有我们在太阳系中的大致位置，

in case the Pioneer spacecraft ever encounters extraterrestrials.

以防万一“先驱者号” 太空飞船遇见了外星人。

So once we decided what sort of files we want to encode,

一旦我们决定了 哪些类型的文件要编码，

we package up the data,

就可以把这些数据打包，

convert those zeroes and ones to A's, T's, C's and G's,

将这些 0 和 1 转换为 A，T，C，G，

and then we just send this file off to a synthesis company.

然后将这个文件发送到合成公司。

And this is what we got back.

而这，就是我们拿回来的东西。

Our files were in this tube.

我们的文件就在这个小管里。

我们只需要对它进行测序 就可以解读其中的信息。

All we had to do was sequence it.

This all sounds pretty straightforward,

这听起来真的很简单，

but the difference between a really cool, fun idea

但一个很酷、很有趣的想法，

and something we can actually use

与我们实际运用之间的不同之处，

is overcoming these practical challenges.

在于战胜实际的挑战。

Now, while DNA is more robust than any man-made device,

而DNA虽然比任何人造设备更稳定，

it's not perfect.

但它并不是完美的。

It does have some weaknesses.

它也有一些弱点。

We recover our message by sequencing the DNA,

我们可以通过DNA测序来恢复信息，

and every time data is retrieved,

但每次数据找回，

we lose the DNA.

这个DNA都会被破坏。

That's just part of the sequencing process.

这只是测序过程的必要步骤。

We don't want to run out of data,

我们不想把数据耗尽，

but luckily, there's a way to copy the DNA

不过好在还有一种方法可以复制DNA，

that's even cheaper and easier than synthesizing it.

甚至比合成更便宜，更容易。

We actually tested a way to make 200 trillion copies of our files,

我们测试了这种方法， 将我们的文件复制了200万亿份，

and we recovered all the data without error.

并精准的还原了所有数据。

So sequencing also introduces errors into our DNA,

测序也会将误差引入DNA，

into the A's, T's, C's and G's.

引入 A，T，C，G 中。

Nature has a way to deal with this in our cells.

大自然有办法在细胞中处理这个问题。

But our data is stored in synthetic DNA in a tube,

但我们的数据是存储在 小管里的合成DNA中，

so we had to find our own way to overcome this problem.

所以我们必须找到 自己的方法来解决这个问题。

We decided to use an algorithm that was used to stream videos.

我们决定使用传输视频时用到的算法。

When you're streaming a video,

当你在传输视频时，

you're essentially trying to recover the original video, the original file.

你实际上是在设法恢复 原始的视频，原始文件。

When we're trying to recover our original files,

当我们在设法恢复原始文件时，

we're simply sequencing.

我们只是在测序。

But really, both of these processes are about recovering enough zeroes and ones

但实际上，这两个过程 都是在复原足够的 0 和1。

to put our data back together.

将数据重新整合在一起。

And so, because of our coding strategy,

所以，根据我们的编码策略，

we were able to package up all of our data

我们能够以一种可以制造

in a way that allowed us to make millions and trillions of copies

上万亿份拷贝的方式，将所有数据打包，

and still always recover all of our files back.

同时仍然保证所有的文件可以复原。

This is the movie we encoded.

这是我们编码的电影，

It's one of the first movies ever made,

是人类创作的首批电影之一，

and now the first to be copied more than 200 trillion times on DNA.

也是第一个在DNA中被复制出 超过200万亿份拷贝的电影。

Soon after our work was published,

很快我们的工作被公开发表，

we participated in an "Ask Me Anything" on the website reddit.

我们在Reddit网站上 参与了“问我任何问题”的活动。

If you're a fellow nerd, you're very familiar with this website.

如果你是一个资深学究， 你应该对这个网站不会陌生。

Most questions were thoughtful.

大部分问题都有很深的思考，

Some were comical.

也有一些问题很好笑。

For example, one user wanted to know when we would have a literal thumb drive.

比如，一个用户想知道我们什么时候 会拥有一个字面意义的拇指储存器。

Now, the thing is,

事实上，

our DNA already stores everything needed to make us who we are.

我们的DNA已经存储了 所有塑造了我们的必要信息。

It's a lot safer to store data on DNA

将数据存储在DNA中，

in synthetic DNA in a tube.

比在小管中合成DNA要安全得多。

Writing and reading data from DNA is obviously a lot more time-consuming

在DNA中写入和读取数据， 明显比在硬盘中存储文件

than just saving all your files on a hard drive --

更花时间——

for now.

目前是这样。

So initially, we should focus on long-term storage.

所以，我们首先应该 关注长期存储的问题。

Most data are ephemeral.

大部分数据只能保存一段时间。

It's really hard to grasp what's important today,

目前还很难提炼出哪些信息是重要的，

or what will be important for future generations.

或者哪些对后人是重要的。

But the point is, we don't have to decide today.

但重点是，我们不一定要马上做决定。

There's this great program by UNESCO called the "Memory of the World" program.

联合国教科文组织有一个 叫做“世界的记忆”的项目，

It's been created to preserve historical materials

建立这个项目的初衷是 保存历史的记忆，

that are considered of value to all of humanity.

那些对全人类都有价值的记忆。

Items are nominated to be added to the collection,

被选中的信息会被加入集合中，

including that film that we encoded.

包括我们编译的那部电影。

While a wonderful way to preserve human heritage,

而保存人类传统更好的方式，

it doesn't have to be a choice.

不是必须做一个选择。

与其问我们这一代人，

Instead of asking the current generation -- us --

what might be important in the future,

在未来什么东西可能是重要的，

we could store everything in DNA.

我们可以在DNA中存储一切。

Storage is not just about how many bytes

存储不止是关乎有多少字节，

而是我们可以多好地保存和恢复数据。

but how well we can actually store the data and recover it.

There's always been this tension between how much data we can generate

一直以来，在我们会产生多少数据， 可以恢复多少数据，

and how much we can recover

以及可以存储多少数据之间，

and how much we can store.

都存在着矛盾。

Every advance in writing data has required a new way to read it.

数据写入的每次进步， 都要求一种新的读取方式。

We can no longer read old media.

我们已无法再读取 那些老旧的存储设备了。

How many of you even have a disk drive in your laptop,

你们还有多少人的 笔记本电脑中有磁盘驱动器，

或者软盘驱动器？

never mind a floppy drive?

This will never be the case with DNA.

有了DNA，这些情况再也不会出现。

As long as we're around, DNA is around,

只要我们在，DNA就存在，

and we'll find a way to sequence it.

我们总会找到排序的方式。

Archiving the world around us is part of human nature.

将我们周围的世界存档 是人类天性的一部分。

This is the progress we've made in digital storage in 60 years,

这是过去60年我们数字化存储的发展，

at a time when we were only beginning to understand DNA.

60年前我们也刚刚开始理解DNA。

Yet, we've made similar progress in half that time with DNA sequencers,

而有了DNA测序技术，我们用一半的 时间就达到了相似的发展进度，

and as long as we're around, DNA will never be obsolete.

而且只要我们还存在，DNA就永不过时。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）