Whilst the science of genetics has solved many puzzles about living things and how physical characteristics are passed from generation to generation, there are a great many mysteries still to be solved. As the “Ghost in Your Genes” video illustrates, there are epigenetic factors that influence how genes work, meaning DNA and genes aren’t the whole story of who we are. We are living at a time of  incredible knowledge but also a whole new multitude of mysteries. The capacity for scepticism, doubt and questioning is of paramount importance for …

If you google ‘DNA portrait’ you get 3,110,000 results. The concept of DNA as ’fingerprint’ has taken its place within our culture (TV cop shows for instance) and we’ve come to accept the idea that it’s the key to our existence. The mystique surrounding DNA was the hot topic today as we isolated our DNA and held our very ‘identity’ in our hands (well those of us that didn’t turn out to be androids).
As a brief precis I would only repeat a comment made today that Oron was wrong when he said by the end of the week …

As a traumatised sparrow flew frantically about our heads we spent this morning’s session learning about DNA extraction, restriction enzymes and electrophoresis (that is an awesome link – click it, go on). It involved a lot of metaphors: ‘nature’s scissors’ and a rather amusing reference to the equisite corpse. As I write we’re about end our discussion of the theory and begin our first physical experience of DNA.
To produce glow in the dark rabbits and transgenic corn, genes must be introduced into cells. One of the ‘vectors’ used to carry new DNA information …