The uncompressed human genome contains about 800 million bytes.

Read the claim as: the haploid human genome is about 3 billion base pairs, and storing each base at 2 bits with no compression gives roughly 800 million bytes. True: the accepted haploid genome size (about 3.0–3.2 billion bp, as known in 2002), converted at 2 bits per base, gives a figure within about ±15% of 800 million bytes (roughly 680–920 million). Mostly true: within ±30%. Mostly false: the figure is only reached under a contrived assumption, or it differs by 30% up to a factor of 2 (for example, if a natural encoding such as 1 byte per base, or a diploid count, is taken as the standard uncompressed size). False: off by more than a factor of 2 under any reasonable uncompressed encoding.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Base pair Wikipedia · 28 October 2001

   “The haploid human genome (23 chromosomes) is estimated to be about 3.2 billion base pairs long and to contain 20,000–25,000 distinct protein-coding genes.”

2. E2 Base pair Wikipedia · 28 October 2001

   “One copy of the human genome consists of approximately 3 billion base pairs of DNA”

3. E3 Base pair Wikipedia · 28 October 2001

   “The finished length of the human genome is 2.86 Gb”

E1 and E2 put the haploid human genome at about 3–3.2 billion base pairs, and E3 gives a finished length of 2.86 Gb. At 2 bits per base, as the criteria specify, that comes to about 715–800 million bytes. This falls within the ±15% band around 800 million bytes (680–920 million), so the claim resolves true.