New memory material may hold data for one billion years

The Doomsday Book survived more than 900 years but today's digital memory devices have lifespans of only a few decades. Researchers, though, have developed a new type of memory system that is expected to have a lifespan of almost 1 billion years with a theoretical maximum recording density of 1 terabyte per square inch. Each bit in the system consists of an iron nanoparticle, trapped in a carbon nanotube, that can be moved from one end of the tube to the other using electricity. A one or zero is read by determining in which end of the tube the iron nanoparticle resides.