DNA MAGIC

          Gloria Christie-The Christie Group 

Change & Problem-Solving

Making Hard Simple

DNA FYI CYA BYOB & #!@!*!#  

Last week the Supreme Court made me very happy by declaring that companies cannot patent naturally-occurring DNA. You know, those miniature spiral staircases that tie criminals to their crimes. We found the DNA 60 years ago. And DNA is the recipe that explains who we are...what we look like, how our body works (or doesn' work) & a bunch of stuff we still don't understand.

But great that the Supreme Court lets us keep our own DNA with that one big exception - let's just say don't get arrested. You will probably get a cotton swap in your mouth & that gets sent to a national crime scene database. 

Here's a little show & tell video I threw together that you might enjoy:

SWITCH ON/SWITCH OFF

by Gloria Christie

(DNA Sculpture)

Supreme Court Justice Scalia says he doesn't really understand DNA. Good for him! Truth be told, about 3 million of the rest of us don't get it either. But one interesting thing. Our DNA is how we stay healthy. Our cells wear out. They just do. That's why we die, eventually. DNA is also where our bodies hold weaknesses to illness, like a tendency to catch colds or get cavities. When we say we inherit our mother's small feet (or big feet), that's how it happens.

The DNA holds our specific recipe or blueprint for making new cells. And DNA uses something called RNA as the tool, like a photocopy machine, to copy itself into each new cell (cDNA). 

Now they just found out that not only is there the regular looking DNA spiral staircase, there is a double DNA.   It's kind of cool looking, something like a snowflake.  They call it G-quadruplexes. Don't ask me why. I think they could have picked an easier name, like Virgil, or maybe the snowflake DNA.

They found these living in part of the stuff that helps glue the DNA together (guanine).  We're not sure exactly what they mean to us. They do show us that DNA is still a very exciting mystery.  But the snowflake DNA is a story for another day...

As (Almost) Always

Gloria Christie