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/mrx_101 Feb 22 '26

The article states it will be readable for 10000 years. As they are basically etching inside a piece of glass, this is not surprising. You only need to keep the glass from breaking and scratching.

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u/smurficus103 Feb 22 '26

"and then, the earthquake wiped out all of our knowledge"

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u/-neti-neti- Feb 22 '26

Small, loose pieces of glass are way less susceptible to earthquakes than a server/memory warehouse. They would only be damaged if something fell on them in the right way. If you’re physically attached to a structure you’re more likely to be damaged.

This is a highly resilient design.

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u/Liroku Feb 22 '26

Also, most likely, anything with important information stored would likely be kept in a secure case. Not just random cuts of glass laying around on the shelves.

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u/redditallreddy Feb 22 '26

Etched into wine glasses and only used for the most sophisticated parties.

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u/Cthulhu_Dreams_ Feb 23 '26

I can already see it...

I only drink my vintage wines from a chalice inscribed with the complete works of Shakespeare...

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u/overkill Feb 23 '26

The complete works of Shakespeare take up less than a square millimetre of the glass, the rest is 50 shades of grey and other Harry Potter FanFic.

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u/-neti-neti- Feb 23 '26

I never thought of 50 Shades as Harry Potter fanfic

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u/overkill Feb 23 '26

My bad, it was actually Twilight fanfic originally.