Dear Evil Engineer,

I’m a double agent operating on behalf of [redacted]. After 15 years operating in a hostile state’s defence technology facility, I have finally been taken into enough confidence to seize a quantity of sensitive data, which I’ve copied to a 32GB thumb drive to return to my home country of [redacted]. However, I’ve been informed that counter-intelligence has been alerted to my activities and I’m not sure how best to bring this data back over the border – surely all my electronics will be searched.

I’ve heard that data can be stored in other forms, including in DNA. Could I store these defence secrets in my own DNA and thus carry them across the border undetected?

Yours,

A spy

Dear villain,

Thank you for your revealing letter. It is not for me to alert any authorities as to your activities – I’m just an evil engineer, helping those in need – so let’s jump straight to answering your question. You could indeed use DNA to carry 32GB of data...