Scientists have devised a new method of storing data, and they say their new process will store it for eternity.

The answer to preserving data is storing it in the form of DNA.

Vint Cerf is one of the fathers of the internet. Currently working as the vice president of Google, he delivered a talk recently at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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There, he expressed a fear of losing all the data we have.

He calls it the "digital Dark Age," saying that future generations may have little or no records of the 21st Century due to an accelerating digital revolution.

He worries technology might not hold up.

Researchers from ETH Zurich may have found the key to sustaining data forever.

Their solution is to store it in the form of DNA.

DNA is a viable source of information for this project. As it is, it already stores vast amounts of information in a compact manner. The information isn't retrieved without error though since there are gaps and false data from chemical degradation and mistakes in DNA sequencing.

Robert Grass, a lecturer at ETH Zurich's Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, has revealed how long-term and error-free storage of information can be achieved.

He says the first step is to encapsulate the information-bearing segments of DNA in silica, and afterwards use an algorithm to correct mistakes in the data.

Inspiration for the process came from fossils as information from them is kept intact.

In terms of errors, researchers are thankful for advances in DNA sequencing.

The current advances allow for the reading of stored data in a convenient manner. The process is affordable and will become even more cost-effective in the future.

Their last challenge is in eradicating errors in retrieving information.

Reinhard Heckel from ETH Zurich's Communication Technology Laboratory is currently working on a way to reduce the errors.

His plan is based on the Reed-Solomon Codes, commonly used for long distance communications. Heckel explains the key is attaching additional information to the actual data.

TagsDNA, Storage, Data, Vint Cerf, USB