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[challenge entry] MEGA TRANSFER!!
A single sperm contains 37.5 MB of DNA information.
One ejaculation represents a data transfer of 15.875 GB, equivalent to the combined capacity of 62 MacBook Pro laptops.

(Source: 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off)


From the Illustrated Bizarre Facts challenge. See all 61 entries (closed)

(I helped save b3ta! Jabberwoc misses D.R. and Quinch, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:15, archived)
# That means I can upload over a terabyte of data in less then three minutes watching Nigella Lawson

(I helped save b3ta! Hitler's Barber Soylent Green is high in saturated fat, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:19, archived)
# Mmmmmm.....glazed cherry-topped buns.....
*edit* Also, I'm glad sperm exists. I'd hate to have to pass five memory sticks of eight gig capacity through my knob every time a sperm was supposed to come out.
(I helped save b3ta! Jabberwoc misses D.R. and Quinch, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:21, archived)
#
(I helped save b3ta! Hitler's Barber Soylent Green is high in saturated fat, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:23, archived)
#
(maninthespoon, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 5:49, archived)
# Did someone say Nigella?
A delicious serving of roasted pea:
(MrCanoehead Marzipaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 9:34, archived)
# Mmmm, Nigella - tasty.
(minimalist ..., Thu 20 Dec 2012, 12:31, archived)
#

(I helped save b3ta! Hitler's Barber Soylent Green is high in saturated fat, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:26, archived)
# well, if we're all getting them out...
(I helped save b3ta! 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:50, archived)
#
(I helped save b3ta! Tahkcalb ω∞ for sigs, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 1:05, archived)
#
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 2:41, archived)
# ^this....
is still the best one ever!
(I helped save b3ta! Zank Frappa Who let the lefties in?, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 5:22, archived)
# 1 gram of DNA = 100 billion DVDs worth of data
(I helped save b3ta! Rebel biscuit stercore sumus et nos esse novimus, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 0:54, archived)
# Human brain capacity = 2.5 petabytes (2,500 terabytes), the equivalent of 300 years of video.
(I helped save b3ta! Bourbon Fox Bourbon is a moron, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 1:39, archived)
# That's all well and good but why do I keep losing my keys?
(I helped save b3ta! Shlvng, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 2:00, archived)
# Impressive data storage aside.
The seek algorithm is useless, the [F|L]IFO stacks get transposed, the data is part random, part sequential and the need/frustration bias amplifier in the read ahead has a sense of humour that requires caution on approach.
It gets worse if the wrong lube is used, plus it has an aversion to keys, kites and the taste of mauve.
(I helped save b3ta! moonbadger Doesn't judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 6:26, archived)
# 
ღ☼ღ PEACE & JOY & GRATITUDE ღ☼ღ
((¯`.´¯)).Our Mission is To Serve All & Love All
.`*.¸.*.`ღ ✿ ♪♫ INTEGRITY ☼°✫INNER KNOWING °ღ♫
°✫° Ӝ °ღ☼ღ°¨ ONENESS ⁀⋆.‿ ღ☼°✫°♫ ♫♪♫
~ℒ ℴ ν ℯ Divine ~ Oneness ~ I Am That I Am ♪♫ ღ☼
(I helped save b3ta! PedroHin ⍼, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 2:08, archived)
# o_______o
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 2:43, archived)
# O)________________________________________________________________________________________________________(O
(I helped save b3ta! PedroHin ⍼, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 3:19, archived)
# lolfact!

(I helped save b3ta! Zank Frappa Who let the lefties in?, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 5:52, archived)
# :D
cheers for sharing the source
(I helped save b3ta! hekim 66 ɐʇƐ𐐒 ʞɔnℲ uooW, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 10:22, archived)
# I'm a bit worried about the size of those Macbook Pro laptop hard drives
It seems they're only about 260Mb each.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 10:31, archived)
# Surely the data is the same in each one, though?
...apart from random mutations, isn't it the same 37.5MB in each?

Still, I shall certainly describe someone as a "data sink" sometime soon...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 13:36, archived)
# Whole new meaning
to the term "copy and paste," though.
(xaer0mancer, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 22:03, archived)
# Something something
fat pipe something... :-)
(I helped save b3ta! JamHamster My eyes, my beautiful eyes!, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 22:57, archived)
# Human DNA is 1.5 GB of information (at two bits per base (T,G,A,C))
((6 billion bases * 2 bits/base) / (8 bits/byte)) = 1.5 GB

(I'm ignoring entropy-coding compression potential, which is likely to be moderate.)

However, all humans on the planet today have genetic sequences that differ by an amount that can be expressed in fewer than 40 MB.

I think it's a little bit misleading, though, to say that the information payload of the human sperm is only "37.5 MB", because, without the benefit of the knowledge that humans have similar sequences, and without the benefit of the full 1.5 GB of a particular person's sequence (serving as a reference, to be able to encode the 40 MB difference), 40 MB would only be 2.7% of the actual information contained in a human sperm.

It's rather amazing that a human's genetic identity can fit on a $1 USB flash drive, or can be downloaded from a web site just like a movie file. And it's even more amazing that the genetic difference between any two people in the whole world would fit in a single 13 Megapixel uncompressed photograph, or a single 4096x4096 RGB888 texture.

Also, the fact that there are essentially "only" ((40 MB * 8 bits/byte) / (2 bits/base)) = 160 million variables (of the form "Xi={T,G,A,C}") that differ among us all, discovering genetic "cause and effect" is becoming a reality.

Here's a reference supporting the "1.5 GB" claim (and suggests that the genetic distance between humans might fit in 20 MB):

www.genetic-future.com/2008/06/how-much-data-is-human-genome-it.html

(H4X0r falsified timestamp on, Tue 25 Dec 2012, 9:55, archived)