Stuff that 'boggles' your mind.

oulton said:
One sperm has 37.5MB of DNA information in it. That means a normal ejaculation represents a data transfer of 1587GB in about 3 seconds.

mind. blown.
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I don't think it's as easy as you make it out to be to convert DNA "data storage" into MB. For starters it isn't a binary system, each base pair can be one of four types (Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, Guanine). But an amino acid is coded for in a group of three base pairs. And they can only join in certain ways - A to T and C to G, so each strand is not independent of the other. Too many different ways of doing it, too many variables...
 
I dont think it's as hard as you're making out either.

PermaBanned said:
For starters it isn't a binary system
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It doesnt really matter, it can still be represented in a binary system.
For example the posts we are making here are not in a binary, but the server has no trouble converting them and storing them as binary.

A base 4 number (for 4 different base pair types) can be represented in 2 bits. If you need 2 base types to make a strand, then thats 4bits per strand. or 2 strands per byte. How many strands does a sperm hold?*

*obviously i know nothing about DNA
 
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PermaBanned said:
I don't think it's as easy as you make it out to be to convert DNA "data storage" into MB. For starters it isn't a binary system, each base pair can be one of four types (Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, Guanine). But an amino acid is coded for in a group of three base pairs. And they can only join in certain ways - A to T and C to G, so each strand is not independent of the other. Too many different ways of doing it, too many variables...
Click to expand...

You are wrong.

Another one for you:

If you could fold a piece of paper in half 50 times, its thickness will be 3/4 the distance from the Earth to the Sun (71 million miles)
 
touch said:
I dont think it's as hard as you're making out either.

It doesnt really matter, it can still be represented in a binary system.
For example the posts we are making here are not in a binary, but the server has no trouble converting them and storing them as binary.

A base 4 number (for 4 different base pair types) can be represented in 2 bits. If you need 2 base types to make a strand, then thats 4bits per strand. or 2 strands per byte. How many strands does a sperm hold?*

*obviously i know nothing about DNA
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head i don't know how long the strands are, but there aren't only two different types of bases per strand. Each strand will have all four, just those on the other strand will be the opposite four. Plus then you have to consider if you want to count the non-coding parts too... although come to think of it, a sperm doesn't carry one long strand, does it? Just paired chromosomes?
 
PermaBanned said:
Off the top of my head i don't know how long the strands are, but there aren't only two different types of bases per strand. Each strand will have all four, just those on the other strand will be the opposite four. Plus then you have to consider if you want to count the non-coding parts too... although come to think of it, a sperm doesn't carry one long strand, does it? Just paired chromosomes?
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Meiosis
 
It boggles my mind just how useless Parcelforce can be.

06-06-2012 13:20 Welwyn Garden City Depot Collection attempted - parcel not available
06-06-2012 07:11 National Hub Received and processed
01-06-2012 17:49 1335008 Forwarded for processing
01-06-2012 13:43 Welwyn Garden City Depot Collected from customer

Okay guys we've collected the parcel and its in our depot ready to go. Better send someone over to collect the parcel we've already got.
 
the biostorage idea is pretty mind blowing.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/biostorage-scheme-turns-e-coli-bacteria-data-storing-hard-drives

E. coli gets a bad rap – probably due to the violent illness it induces – but a group of Chinese University students in Hong Kong have found a novel and potentially reputation-changing use for the bacteria: data storage. The team has devised a way to encrypt and store information in the DNA of bacteria to such an effective degree that they say just one gram of E. coli could store the same amount of data as 450 two-terabyte hard drives.
 
Dreams, coincidence, deja vu. It's all fascinating stuff to me whether it be purely through electrical signals in the brain or something more.
 
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