So... Is that new 500gb hard drive just not doing it for you anymore? Want something bigger? How about the possibility of storing thousands, if not millions of gigabytes in the space no bigger than a matchbox or smaller?
Well, scientists are getting closer. The have found a way to store an entire image onto a single proton, slow it down for storage, then retrieve it again.
From the
article:
“It sort of sounds impossible, but instead of storing just ones and zeros, we're storing an entire image,” says John Howell, assistant professor of physics and leader of the team that created the device. ”It's analogous to the difference between snapping a picture with a single pixel and doing it with a camera—this is like a 6-megapixel camera.”
As it says in the comments, Wave-particle duality FTW!
So instead of storing data like they do now, you are basically creating the human mind, in some aspects. Terminator theorists, begin the preaching.
The durability of a proton is a big issue since protons are not entirely stable.
Data stored on protons would transform into neutrons as soon as enough energy is supplied. I doubt that the data would survive such drastic change.