Currently synthetic DNA stores this data but in the future we may be able to use organic DNA.

We’re already using organic DNA in our bodies to store infomation. This information is the DNA in our cells.

Synthetic DNA replicates the process of storing data in a digital way.

Synthetic DNA is essentially the same as organic DNA but from a synthetic standpoint. Organic DNA that´s in our bodies look exactly like the molecules made.

There are four things that make up DNA. The four different bases, A, T, G, and C. and it´s the sequences of these base pairs that dictate what’s stored in it.

It is very much a digital manner the way the body stores information. Synthetic DNA uses this as a starting point and looks at the way DNA stores genetic information to see how it can work with digital information instead.

Because human cells have to pack in so much genetic information into the content of DNA the storage system is incredibly efficient.

As an example, the size of a sugar cube can store an exabyte of DNA.

Another feature of DNA is the stability of the molecules. At room temperature this medium will essentially last forever.

The idea of storing information in DNA sounds very modern but the idea has actually been around since the ’50s. Until recently only small amounts of data could be stored due to the expense of writing information into the molecules.

How might that be useful in real life? As an illustration, last year a new machine that prints DNA molecules transferred the entirety of Wikipedia onto synthetic DNA.

It´s not difficult to imagine that in the near future these machines will be connected to data centers. For things that require long-term archival we might store that information in DNA form and access it as required. Thousands of copies can also be made if necessary. This is another characteristic of DNA that’s very advantageous as a data-storage medium.

Digital data production is expanding so fast that within 20 years memory chips could consume nearly a hundred times the anticipated supply of microchip-grade silicon.

A data storage revolution is important to reduce the impact on the environment.

By 2025, accumulated global data will exceed 175 billion trillion bytes.

This amount in theory could be contained in 180 pounds of DNA, in turn housed within a 15-gallon drum.

In 2020 it was proven for the first time that DNA could be synthesised.

DNA won’t replace thumb drives for storing and retrieving data but will be reserved for archival purposes. It can safeguard valuable information about things humanity wants to keep forever.

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OER include textbooks, software, and other resources that can be used for free and repurposed by others. It creates powerful opportunities for a faculty to support students and student success. This is irrespective of size and influence of the institution.
So far universities have been slow to take advantage of such opportunities.

82 percent of universities have the autonomy to choose open source textbooks and course materials.

Although awareness of this fact has nearly tripled since 2014–15, adoption still lags far behind.

The use of OER material will require strategic planning and collaborative leadership.

Barbara Illowsky, a professor at De Anza College in California strongly believed in student equity. Students who needed access to course materials by the time classes began often received their aid within the second week of classes.

This meant that often they had to get into debt in order to properly prepare themselves for the start of class.

During the early 1990s, Illowsky and her co author Susan Dean wrote a low cost textbook on elementary statistics. She subsequently republished the book online in 2007 on the Openstax platform. It is now used at nearly one thousand universities and colleges worldwide.

OpenStax’s free and openly licensed textbooks are developed with the identical rigorous authorship and peer-review processes to traditional publishers. These Open Source textbooks have been instrumental in addressing the concerns of some faculties who viewed OER as lower quality than commercial rivals. In just one elementary statistics course at De Anza College students have saved over $3 million in textbook costs since 2007.

In 2012, C. Edward Watson, director for the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia had a similar experience. He and his staff recognised that the best opportunities to provide affordability and equity through OER came from instructors using expensive textbooks in large classes.

In 2013, his staff worked with an Introduction to Biology professor to change her course. It resulted in changing from using a $99 textbook to using OpenStax’s free biology textbook.

By the end of the next academic year, this OER adoption saved students $200,000.

The biology professor became a valuable OER advocate. With proof of how it worked Watson worked with two or three new faculties every year to transition their course materials to OER. Watson left UGA in 2017. By then over a dozen faculties had transitioned from using expensive textbooks to high-quality OER materials. Between 2013 and 2017 savings from these changes were estimated at nearly $4 million. Most importantly research conducted by Watson and his team found that using OER actually led to students gaining higher grades.

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It has been around for 20 years and has become a pillar of the open education community. It is a useful resource for many learners around the world from all walks of life. Both lectures and videos are used as well as other content for users to improve their careers and propel their studies.

OpenCourseWare launched during the early days of the internet during the initial phase of e-learning. Asking their users for feedback spurred them to launch OpenCourseWare, an internet site offering all of their course materials free to anyone. Within a year, MIT OpenCourseWare had a website with fifty courses attracting worldwide acclaim. Currently they offer over 2,500 courses spanning the MIT graduate and undergraduate curriculum. To date, OCW has been a resource for over 210 million unique users, with most users coming from outside the US.

It is of great value to students much further afield however. With other institutions operating closed systems, OCW is a lifeline for many students from all around the world. These students can access the site and progressed through their chosen career path as a result.

OCW has created a boom within the open-education movement. Aside from the courses, OCW has had an impact on the way online learning resources have worked in education. They have set a template for other colleges and universities looking to achieve similar results.

OER lifts up everyone’s ability to contribute to shared knowledge, and to increase that knowledge. It creates new paths for people to work together.

In 2005, OCW helped launch the MIT OpenCourseWare Consortium whose network of over 300 educational activity institutions and other similar organizations have freely shared countless learning materials to foster widespread adoption of OERs.

Integrating teachers into the process of OCW was a key priority. Initially it was envisioned that it would be almost exclusively used by educators. It has actually come as a surprise how popular it is amongst students. Educators all around the world have shared their positive experiences of using OCW.

For individual learners OCW is a means to expand understanding and satisfy curiosity and to achieve their work goals. Educators can use it is a resource library to augment and strengthen their curriculum. For educational organizations it’s a way to share a commitment to open knowledge.

The courses on OCW have also come to reflect the way that MIT has grown and adjusted over the last 20 years. An Introduction to engineering courses in Algebra have always been two of the most viewed courses. These days however courses like “The Challenge of World Poverty” reflect the zeitgeist. “Blockchain and Money” is another course which has seen a significant rise in views.

OCW also plays a role in creating more diversity. For example African studies have become more visible at MIT. Often Africa is seen as a place where problems need to be solved. OCW has helped show that it is also a place of knowledge production.

OpenCourseWare enters its third decade in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, with schools and businesses closed. Traffic to OCW spiked to 2.2 million visits a month, 75% higher than during the same period in 2019. More importantly, the shift to remote learning over the past year has focused on the opportunities of online education. Looking at the longer term, OCW can use its experience of 20 years to address the problems currently being faced.

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