Scientists in the United Kingdom have successfully stored the entire human genome on a revolutionary “5D memory crystal,” with the hope that it could one day serve as a blueprint to resurrect humanity in case of extinction.

Developed by researchers at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre, the crystal can also preserve records of plant and animal species on the brink of extinction. Stored in the Memory of Mankind archive in Hallstatt, Austria, the crystal has the potential to hold up to 360 terabytes of data for billions of years, according to a university press release.

The crystal is designed to withstand extreme conditions such as freezing, intense heat, direct impact, and even cosmic radiation, making it one of the most durable digital storage devices ever created. It can survive temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius, ensuring the preservation of its data in the face of catastrophic events. In fact, the crystal was awarded the Guinness World Record in 2014 for being the “most durable digital storage material.”

The team, led by Professor Peter Kazansky, used ultra-fast lasers to etch the genome data into nanoscale voids just 20 nanometers in size. Describing their work as “5D,” Kazansky explained that the data is encoded in five dimensions of the nanostructures—height, length, width, orientation, and position.

The crystal is stored in the Memory of Mankind archive in Hallstatt, Austria. University of Southampton/PA

“The 5D memory crystal opens up possibilities for other researchers to build an everlasting repository of genomic information from which complex organisms like plants and animals might be restored should science in the future allow,” Kazansky said.

Recognizing the need to communicate with an unknown future species or intelligence, the team inscribed a visual key on the crystal to help future finders understand its contents and usage.

“The visual key inscribed on the crystal gives the finder knowledge of what data is stored inside and how it could be used,” Kazansky added.

Though hailed as an incredible advancement, the long-term practicality of reading the data remains uncertain. “Their work is super impressive,” said Thomas Heinis, a DNA storage researcher at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the study. However, he raised concerns about whether future generations would possess the technology to access the stored information.

“What Southampton presents probably has a higher durability, however, this begs the question: what for? Future generations? Sure, but how will they know how to read the crystal? How will they know how to build the device to read the crystal? Will the device be available in hundreds of years?” Heinis questioned. “I can barely connect my 10-year-old iPod and listen to what I listened back then.”

Currently, the crystal remains secured in the Memory of Mankind archive, a time capsule located in a salt cave in Austria. This groundbreaking technology has already been used to preserve historical texts, including Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy, which was launched into space aboard a Tesla Roadster in 2018, and pivotal documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Magna Carta.

In addition to the crystal, earlier this year scientists unveiled a plan to safeguard Earth’s species by creating a cryogenic biorepository on the moon, to protect against potential planetary disasters. CNN