Recent advancements in memory research pave the way for storing a library in a space the size of your fingernail.

In October 1970, the newly formed Intel publicly released its first 1103 dynamic random access memory chip. It was a stunning technological advancement, making it possible to store 125 bytes (1 kilobit) of data, roughly the storage required for a two-line definition in a dictionary. It eventually displaced the vacuum tube, taking a place alongside the microprocessor to become one of the main driving forces of the personal computer revolution. And since the mid-1980s, researchers have been able to double magnetic density every 18 months.

But this year the pace of memory took an enormous leap with two research advancements in molecular electronics. Earlier this month, Stanley Williams, director of the Quantum Science Research lab at Hewlett-Packard, announced that his researchers had created the highest density of electronically switchable memory to date, capable of storing 6.4 gigabits of data in one square centimeter. That's roughly equivalent to storing a full-length feature film in a space the size of a human fingernail.