The "0" and "1" of the computer bits are being converted into pink and electric blue molecules.

You can store precious baby photos as fluorescent dyes.

Harvard researchers are working on a colorful way of storing digital information-a mixture of fluorescent dyes. They believe that these liquids can replace the bulky, easily cracked, energy-consuming tapes that we still use to store valuable data. 

Yes, for long-term data storage, we still use magnetic tape, reminiscent of music cassettes and VHS movies that might be stored somewhere in the basement. However, although these tapes are effective, they take up a lot of physical space, bring security risks, consume a lot of energy, are expensive to maintain, and can only last for about 20 years. 

George Whitesides, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University, said: "The energy required to maintain the facilities for storing information is quite high, and it is getting higher and higher." American Chemical Society. 

This is why his team is looking for fluorescent mixtures. Whitesides first asked a question and came up with this unique idea: "How do you store information in a simple way, but its characteristic is that it minimizes the energy required to maintain storage, and does not require a lot of new Information? The technology that makes it work?"

He said that his invention uses commercially available, relatively cheap materials, "Once you write down information, pictures, no matter what it is, you don't need any energy."

As a proof of principle, Whitesides and his team used their neon dye mixture to encode the iconic research paper written by Michael Faraday. They selected seven fluorescent molecules purchased from stores, created various mixtures representing computer languages ​​or bit sequences, and used inkjet printers to permanently place the mixtures on a small part of an already small glass slide. 

Basically, they compressed 14,075 bytes of data-112,600 bits-into an area of ​​about 2 inches (52 mm). If tape is used, the information will occupy approximately 2.34 inches (59 mm) of strips. Although the difference in isolation seems to be small, the extra space, when compounded, can free up a lot of storage facility space.

From there, the team read the information they printed with a fluorescence microscope, a tool commonly used by chemists. It turns out that Faraday's paper is perfectly encoded, and the microscope reads fluorescence data more than 1,000 times without significant information loss. In addition, because the data is permanently fused on the surface, it may be difficult to crack. Researchers believe that expensive maintenance measures may not be needed in the future.

Of course, you may wonder if you can’t just store data on USB. What about "cloud" and SSD hard drives? Of course, but these devices are susceptible to water damage or may degrade over time, as well as other potential pitfalls. Unlike our daily digital data, things that need to be stored over long periods of time will not — and should not — be stored in this way. 

Whitesides said: "This can be anywhere from patient recording and processing medical data to baby photos." 

Each of Whitesides' seven liquids contains a different molecule that emits a wavelength corresponding to its color. These molecules can be quickly read by a fluorescence microscope. The entire fascinating operation is rooted in the way humans communicate with computers.

Let us take a step back. In computer languages, information is stored in bits of 0 and 1. Words can be composed of specific sequences of these bits, such as "0101", and long combinations of these sequences form sentences-all of which are binary codes. Usually, the uncompressed bits will be written to the tape as you wish, a bit like writing on many, many papers.

"Tape, you have a specific device, it's a tape writer [and] a reader," Whitesides said. "This is a device that you can use in computing to work with your computer or any storage system you own."

A magnified image of the fluorescent dye dots representing the binary code. To the naked eye, they are almost invisible.

But compared to the old-fashioned structure of tape, one point in the team's novel mixture can represent a pile at the same time.

Let us assume that we are mixing for a three-digit sequence. Space 1 is pink, space 2 is green, and space 3 is blue. The presence of these colors means a bit "1", and the absence of these colors means a bit "0". 

If the mixture is only pink, it means that it represents a sequence of "100".

Whitesides said: "You can make any combination of 1 and 0 in the three spaces set for the word you are using." "Each point can represent a sequence."

He added, "If you can represent 1 and 0 by mixing [dye], then you will see how to go from there to binary code-and binary code enables you to copy text... or copy pictures."

Currently, Whitesides is trying to infer the number of neon dots that can be placed on the glass slide before the microscope cannot detect the component. In this way, he can accurately calculate how much compression can be performed on the binary code to limit the occupation of as much physical space as possible. 

He said the next steps include learning the best way to store slides-hopefully a way that doesn't require much energy.

Whitesides is not alone in researching molecular methods of storing digital data. A very popular field is data storage inspired by DNA. But "the synthesis of long strands of DNA, which is necessary for the manufacture of DNA-like storage media, is actually a rather intensive activity," he said. 

Regardless, the researchers say that Whiteside's fluorescent dye method interprets information faster than any current molecular storage device, including DNA.

"But they are all interesting, and the information storage problem has just begun," he said. "We will have to see what will happen in the next few years."