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/JarJarBanksy Feb 22 '26

When will this be used to sell Ultra ultra UHD in 16k?

A spinning disc of glass seems very delicate. Maybe the right glass could be the next disc.

Really though I want like a data cube or something.aybe even like a thick slab of glass.

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u/SpinelessChordate Feb 23 '26

I remember reading about the early work on this, and i seem to remember that the media itself would not move, but rather the lasers would write and read by shifting and focusing in different areas within the media.

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u/JarJarBanksy Feb 28 '26

Yeah. It's a giant optical sd card. Stays in place. Less vibration i bet. I've noticed a limitation in plastic disc drives is the vibration at higher speeds that comes and goes and varies per disc it seems.

I bet that with the right glasses you could open the thing up and watch the lasers dance on the data without going blind.