Davis displays a molecular model of his Riddle of Life, a strand of synthesized DNA in which he encoded the message: “I am the riddle of life; know me and you will know yourself.” 

Davis has spent 25 years working to devise sophisticated ways of encoding information in biologically secure carriers. He has coded everything from a Goethe poem to a map of the Milky Way into synthetic DNA, which he then inserts into the genome of living bacteria like E. coli. His vision is to archive everything there is to know about humans so that it might be safeguarded long after our species has disappeared.