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Excerpt from www.sciencedaily.com
In the movie “Jurassic Park,” scientists extracted DNA that had been preserved in amber for millions of years, and used it to create a population of long-extinct dinosaurs.
Inspired partly by that film, MIT researchers have developed a glassy, amber-like polymer that can be used for long-term storage of DNA, whether entire human genomes or digital files such as photos.
Most current methods for storing DNA require freezing temperatures, so they consume a great deal of energy and are not feasible in many parts of the world. In contrast, the new amber-like polymer can store DNA at room temperature while protecting the molecules from damage caused by heat or water.
The researchers showed that they could use this polymer to store DNA sequences encoding the theme music from Jurassic Park, as well as an entire human genome. They also demonstrated that the DNA can be easily removed from the polymer without damaging it.