this is a 3D printed model of a bunny with a drawing hidden in its body, and you can't see any mechanism from the outside.

(photo source: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich/Erlich Lab LLC, Israel)

this rabbit model, from a study published this week in Nature Biotechnology, is an interesting attempt to store information in ordinary objects. To put it simply, the material that prints the rabbit is mixed with DNA molecules that store information, which can be separated again, sequenced and decoded, and then get the hidden information. In the case of the rabbit in the picture, the information you will get is its 3D printed drawings, which can instruct the 3D printer to create exactly the same rabbit again, a feeling of self-replication.

researchers call this technique "DNA-of-things": first, the information to be stored is encoded into DNA and the corresponding DNA molecules are synthesized, then these DNA molecules are encapsulated in small silica particles (as protection of the storage medium) by sol-gel method, and then these small particles with information are mixed into 3D printing plastic to make models.

after the first generation of rabbit models with drawing information were made, the researchers cut a small piece from its ear, re-extracted the DNA and sequenced the information, and then used the restored information to create a new identical rabbit, which was repeated five times. Moreover, they proved that there was no problem with the DNA information stored in rabbits for at least nine months.

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in addition to the drawings for making rabbit models, they also tried to bury some DNA storage particles in plexiglass lenses, this time corresponding to a 1.4m online video.

(screenshot of the paper, in fact, this idea is more interesting than rabbit self-replication)

as a storage medium, DNA molecules are actually quite dense, unlimited in shape, and the "shelf life" is long enough, which are several reasons why researchers are interested in this way of storing information.

I'm not sure whether this kind of information storage will really be popularized in the future, but I think get has found new material for writing mystery novels (I can't write it).

Source:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-019-0356-z

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2226644-3d-printed-bunny-contains-dna-instructions-to-make-a-copy-of-itself/

as a storage medium, DNA molecules are actually quite dense, unlimited in shape, and the "shelf life" is long enough, which are several reasons why researchers are interested in this way of storing information.

I'm not sure whether this kind of information storage will really be popularized in the future, but I think get has found new material for writing mystery novels (I can't write it).

Source:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-019-0356-z

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2226644-3d-printed-bunny-contains-dna-instructions-to-make-a-copy-of-itself/