Data storage looks crystal clear

Computer users could soon be saving their work to hard drives made of glass, after scientists developed memory crystals similar to those in the Superman films.

Researchers at Southampton University in England have used laser beams to alter glass and make it possible to store memory inside.

The crystals will be able to store much more than conventional drives and are less prone to overheating or damage.

The glass shards can store up to 50 gigabytes of data on a piece the size of a mobile phone screen. They can withstand temperatures of up to 98 degrees and last for thousands of years.

The process works my putting tiny dots called voxels into pure silica glass, which changes the way light moves through it. These voxels can then be read using an optical decoder.

As people come to rely on computers more and more, particularly in the workplace, the demand for data storage solutions will only continue to grow, so why not develop your own?