Molecular biology research, once seen as exotic, now showers benefits on the population at large. The May 29, 2018 issue of The Irish Sun brings news of the newest benefit: HERE COMES THE SON Dentist who owns John Lennon’s tooth will use DNA test to find Beatle’s potential love children in bid to claim slice of […]
Tag: DNA
DNA and “The Elements”, and two birthdays
Three days after James Watson (of eventual molecular-structure-of-DNA fame) was born, Tom Lehrer (eventual author and singer of “The Elements” and much more) was born. Make of that what you will. This month, each of them becomes 90 years old. Andrew Robinson wrote an appreciation of Tom Lehrer, in Nature magazine.
The dismaying danger of buying perfume as a gift
Craig Roberts, at the University of Stirling, warns you, based on his research, that there are “more reason to choose fragrances carefully“: there is no one-scent-fits-all effect here. Different fragrances suit different people. In a study with my Czech colleague [Ig Nobel Prize winner] Jan Havlíček, we found that some people get this spectacularly wrong. While […]
Multiple personalities in the Watson vs. Crick strand controversy
Dan Gaur, a member of the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS), and a colleague published a paper on the (little-known) Watson-Crick controversy: “The Multiple Personalities of Watson and Crick Strands,” Reed A. Cartwright and Dan Graur, Biology Direct, vol. 6, no. 7, 2011. The authors, at the University of Houston, explain: “Background: In genetics it is […]