“Beyond 0s and 1s: Using chemical-based memory devices for large-scale data storage”

Join WCPN ideastream, Sigma Xi and the Music Box Supper Club for a Science Café Cleveland presentation and discussion with Emily B. Pentzer, the Frank Hovorka Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Pentzer will present “Beyond 0s and 1s: Using chemical-based memory devices for large-scale data storage” Monday, Nov. 13, at the Music Box Supper Club (1148 Main Ave.). Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation will be from 7 to 8 p.m. Limited menu options will be available for purchase. A chairlift is also available by request.

Talk details

Ninety percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. Our current output of data is roughly 2.5 quintillion bytes a day—a quintillion is a number followed by 18 zeros. Quintillion is generally used to refer to the mass of the earth (in tons) and the number of molecules in the human brain. Now it’s being used to help define how much data is being produced by all of our internet activity through each picture uploaded, tweet tweeted or study published. As the world steadily becomes more connected with an ever-increasing number of electronic devices, the amount of data generated will only grow over the coming years. As such, there will be increasing challenges on how to store all this “stuff” in an efficient manner. More of the same technology may not be the answer. This Science Café features Pentzer in discussion on a new approach to data storage using polymer films and a quaternary code of 0, 1, 2, 3. This is in contrast to data storage as currently realized, in a binary code of 0 and 1. The expansion to a quaternary code allows for substantially more data to be stored in the same space, and can be likened to the code that nature uses to store data in DNA: A, C, T, G. The current limitations, approaches to overcome and other such hurdles will also be addressed at this Science Cafe Cleveland. Learn more at case.edu/affil/sigmaxi/2017November13Event.html.