They are saying that because of the nature of DNA and how it can store information for seemingly millions of years, that they could (for some reason) implant data into genomes that will last for centuries...
Quote:
Wong and his colleagues showed that they could implant a message (they used lyrics from “It’s A Small World After Allâ€) into the genome of bacteria. A whole family of bacteria with the message can be created, and even after hundreds of generations, the message was still intact. Wong notes that it would be possible to send a message to the future in a particularly hardy organism--such as a bacteria or a cockroach, that would survive a nuclear war. More practically, companies that create genetically modified organisms could use the technology to create a kind of DNA watermark to keep their intellectual property from being stolen.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/10/21/genetics-dna-computing-comm05-cx_mh_1024herper.html
Pretty strange implications if you ask me..
Edited, Wed Oct 26 12:42:46 2005 by Kelvyquayo
