History Main / Biodata

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': In the pilot episode, the Klingon courier Klaang carried [[ArtisticLicenseBiology information injected directly into his DNA]], concerning the Suliban's attempts to destabilize the Empire.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Klingons are NOT dumb. A Klingon scientist temporarily posted on the ''Enterprise-D'' modified a hyposyringe with an optical chip reader, and would use that to transform digital information from the ship's computers into amino acid sequences. Then he would inject someone without their knowledge, and the information would be carried in their bodies in their bloodstream as inert proteins, which could be extracted at any time by another spy. ''Damn, son!''
** It seems that by the 24th century, the Klingons have actually learned a few things. This is slightly more plausible than the ''Enterprise'' example.

* [[EmperorScientist Ansem the Wise]] hides research data within [[TheHero Sora]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'', although it is left vague on how he does this.

[[AC: Anime And Manga]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

[[AC: LiveActionTelevision]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

[[AC: WebOriginal]]

[[AC: RealLife]]

* [[http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/12393/ This Article describes the phenomenon in RealLife.]] Portrayals in fiction vary considerably in their accuracy.

* ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'': Data pollen. Literally, pollen from plants that's encoded with newsfeeds, advertising and other information. Breathed in, it releases the information to the nervous system. It's linked to degeneration of the synapses in the brain and goes in and out of legality several times over the series.

* [[EmperorScientist Ansem the Wise]] hides research data within [[TheHero Sora]] in ''KingdomHearts'', although it is left vague on how he does this.

* A recurring theme in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series - ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' and ''DevilSurvivor2'' in particular - is the concept that ''everything'' ultimately boils down to data. This is implied to be how [[spoiler: the Embryon were first reincarnated into the simulated world of the Junkyard]], and linked with the notion of the AkashicRecords to explain how [[spoiler: Polaris is systematically destroying the world - and how it can be restored afterwards]].

* ''{{Lexx}}'': Assistant Deputy Back-Up Courier Stanley Tweedle had vital data about the Divine Order's superweapon, the Lexx, encoded in amino acids stored in a false tooth.

[[AC: RealLife]]
* [[http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/12393/ This Article describes the phenomenon in RealLife.]] Portrayals in fiction vary considerably in their accuracy.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing DNA Computing]]

[[AC: WebOriginal]]
* In ''Literature/NextBreedOfThief'', this is the mechanism behind [=MEPHISTO=].

* A recurring theme in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series - ''DigitalDevilSaga'' and ''DevilSurvivor2'' in particular - is the concept that ''everything'' ultimately boils down to data. This is implied to be how [[spoiler: the Embryon were first reincarnated into the simulated world of the Junkyard]], and linked with the notion of the AkashicRecords to explain how [[spoiler: Polaris is systematically destroying the world - and how it can be restored afterwards]].

* ''{{Fringe}}'' has done this a couple of times, notably in the first season when ZFT would leave a "calling card" in the DNA of their genetically engineered weapons.

* In ''{{Dune}}'', a distrans is a device for producing a temporary neural imprint on the nervous system of bats or birds. The creature's normal cry then carries the message imprint which can be sorted from that carrier wave by another distrans. In other words, it implants a message into the animal which can be later read in its normal vocalization, sort of like a modern-day telephone/radio scrambler.

* ''MassEffect'': Protheans possess BizarreAlienSenses that allow them to read biomarkers of any living creature (and even from some inorganic objects that come into contact with the living) and store this information. This is how their Beacons work, too.

* IainBanks' ''TheCulture/SurfaceDetail'' provides us with the Intagliated, slaves whose bodily tattoos contain information detailing their pasts, why they're Intagliated and the markings go right down to the DNA.

* ''TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse''. Earth is the computer that Deep Thought created to discover the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Because he was a part of Earth's organic matrix, the Question (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) is stored in Arthur Dent's brain wave patterns. Near the end of the book he and Ford Prefect try to discover the Question by introducing a random element that can be shaped by that pattern - drawing Scrabble tiles from a bag without looking.

This does not cover the opposite, where information about a biological organism is recorded by digital computers or otherwise non-organic devices. [[EverythingSensor That's a separate trope.]] Also does not cover inorganic storage system implants, for example in ''JohnnyMnemonic.'' A silicon memory chip in the brain is not an example of this trope; but a port implant that allows Memory Uploading from computer to brain or brain to brain ''would'' count: it all depends on the storage medium.

* ''OutlawStar'': According to Gwen Khan, the information for navigating one's way to the Galactic Leyline and accessing its ability to [[spoiler: alter the laws of probability]], was contained within the "black box" data used to create Melfina. Melfina was unaware of this herself, until [[spoiler: she reconnected with the Leyline.]]

* [[http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/12393/ This Article describes the phenomenon in RealLife.]] Portrayals in fiction vary [[DidNotDoTheResearch considerably in their accuracy.]]

* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Klingons are NOT dumb. A Klingon scientist temporarily posted on the ''Enterprise-D'' modified a hyposyringe with an optical chip reader, and would use that to transform digital information from the ship's computers into amino acid sequences. Then he would inject someone without their knowledge, and the information would be carried in their bodies in their bloodstream as inert proteins, which could be extracted at any time by another spy. ''Damn, son!''

* ''StarTrekEnterprise'': In the pilot episode, the Klingon courier Klaang carried [[ArtisticLicenseBiology information injected directly into his DNA]], concerning the Suliban's attempts to destabilize the Empire.

* [[http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/12393/ This Article describes the phenomenon in RealLife.]] [[YourMileageMayVary Portrayals in fiction vary]] [[DidNotDoTheResearch considerably in their accuracy.]]

* A recurring theme in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' series - ''DigitalDevilSaga'' and ''DevilSurvivor2'' in particular - is the concept that ''everything'' ultimately boils down to data. This is implied to be how [[spoiler: the Embryon were first reincarnated into the simulated world of the Junkyard]], and linked with the notion of the AkashicRecords to explain how [[spoiler: Polaris is systematically destroying the world - and how it can be restored afterwards]].

* ''{{Farscape}}'': The Ancients inscribed knowledge of wormholes into John Crichton's brain and his DNA. [[spoiler: Eventually he unlocked and understood it. Although the Ancients removed it from his head after he used it, his son was implied to inherit it. The Scarrans even tried to extract it from the DNA of Aeryn's unborn child.]]

[[AC: Role Playing Games]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]