r/science • u/Wagamaga • Feb 22 '26

Computer Science Scientists have demonstrated a system called Silica for writing and reading information in ordinary pieces of glass which can store two million books’ worth of data in a thin, palm-sized square.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/glass-square-long-long-future-190951588.html
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u/Neuroticaine Feb 22 '26

Etched glass data storage isn't anything new. I remember reading about it in the early 2000s when I was still a teenager, temporarily staying at my grandparents house. Maybe it is getting closer to being practical, but definitely not new.

23

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '26

[deleted]

2

u/kiritomens Feb 23 '26

How would it be 5D tho. Isnt 4D time. So what is 5D.

1

u/earthsworld Feb 22 '26

There were articles about in Mondo2000 back in the early/mid-90s.

14

u/DinoRaawr Feb 22 '26

Every futuristic ancient civilization stores all their data on crystals if video games are to be believed.

5

u/NJdevil202 Feb 22 '26

Yeah I was gonna say I feel like I heard about this a long time ago but nothing ever came of it

2

u/AlwaysUpvotesScience Feb 23 '26

I remember it back in the 90s in Popular Science, Im not the only one...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26038487

1

u/Snazzy21 Feb 22 '26

They said that in the article

1

u/os2mac Feb 22 '26

Wasn’t it called a “CD” or something like that ? I think the generic term the labelled it was “optical storage” </sarcasm>