Wallpaper 6

No larger than a coin, this deceptively

robust nanostructured disc can store

around 360 terabytes of data for up to

13.8 billion years, even when exposed

to temperatures of up to 1,000°C.

Developed by the University of

Southampton’s Optoelectronics

Research Centre, the technology can

be used to create digital copies of major

cultural artefacts and documents –

such as the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights, pictured here. Content

is added using ultrafast laser writing,

and the glass discs can be read by

combining an optical microscope with

a polariser.

In an exhibition centred on what

comes next, the discs remind us of

the past’s importance, preserving

evidence of our civilisation for future

generations. And, just as a diamond

is highly organised compressed

carbon, the discs compress data into

a digital gem – they are the precious

stones of the technological age.

southampton.ac.uk

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

ETERNAL 5D

DATA STOR AGE

Orthodox geological thinking suggests we are in the

Holocene epoch and have been for the last 11,000

years or so. However, a growing number of scientists

suggest we need a new geological marker and talk

about the Anthropocene, or the ‘age of humans’.

Since the 1970s, the International Commission

on Stratigraphy has been recognising important

geological moments past with so-called ‘golden

spikes’ (or Global Boundary Stratotype Section and

Points), which may be embedded in rock strata at

symbolic spots around the world to mark one epoch

shifting to the next.

There are now more than 60 spikes dotted across

the earth, but where we will mark the Anthropocene

era is still up for debate. One suggestion is to place it

by a tree on Campbell Island in the Southern Ocean,

which records in its wood a radioactive trace from

the A-bomb tests of the 1950s. Wherever it is placed,

the marker will reflect the ‘Great Acceleration’,

when human impact on the planet intensified

and went global and irreversible.

As well as being a symbol of passing geological

ages, the spikes are also a sign of ‘important

international scientific cooperation’, says Stanley

Finney, secretary general of the International Union

of Geological Sciences. The decision where each

spike should sit is a complex, hotly debated matter,

often put to a vote by an international panel.

stratigraphy.org

PROMOTING DEBATE

ABOUT A MARKER FOR

THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA,

A DISPLAY MODEL OF

A GOLDEN SPIKE DESIGNED

FOR THE BASQUE COAST

UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK

IN FRANCE, WHERE TWO

SUCH SPIKES MARK THE

SELANDIAN AND

THANETIAN STAGES

INTER NATIONAL COMMISSION

ON STR ATIGR A PHY

GEOLOGICAL EPOCH

MARKER

Technology

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