Scientists in the United Kingdom have stored the entire human genome on a “5D memory crystal,” in the hope that it could be used in the future as a blueprint to bring humanity back from extinction.

Just in case some aliens, say, come along in a billion years and feel like cloning us from extinction Whether or not some future entity will want to bring humanity back after its eventual extinction is now a theoretical if improbable option,

If humanity ever goes extinct, scientists now have a backup plan: a coin-sized crystal storing the entire human genome. Future species could use this record as an instructional manual to recreate humans some millions—or even billions—of years from the present.

The entire human genome – all 3 billion or so base pairs – has been stored on a tiny, 5D memory crystal built to last for billions of years. In theory, should humans go extinct, this little chip could provide a blueprint to bring us back – providing the technology to do so has materialized by then.