Similar DNA Molecules Able to Recognize Each Other 84
Chroniton brings us a story about research into DNA which has shown that free-floating DNA strands are able to seek out similar strands without the assistance of other chemicals. From Imperial College London:
"The researchers observed the behaviour of fluorescently tagged DNA molecules in a pure solution. They found that DNA molecules with identical patterns of chemical bases were approximately twice as likely to gather together than DNA molecules with different sequences. Understanding the precise mechanism of the primary recognition stage of genetic recombination may shed light on how to avoid or minimise recombination errors in evolution, natural selection and DNA repair. This is important because such errors are believed to cause a number of genetically determined diseases including cancers and some forms of Alzheimer's, as well as contributing to ageing."
Re:Don't anthropomorphize chemical compounds. (Score:3, Insightful)
GATTACA (Score:3, Insightful)
With all of its advances, I sure hope a code of conduct is built into societies laws to help contain its tech to good uses. Of course there may be gene doping, etc. But antidiscrimination laws may need to be written at some point.
Re:GATTACA (Score:5, Insightful)
The real world is going to be more complicated than that. This is a good thing.
base pairing (Score:1, Insightful)
Is it just me... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:GATTACA (Score:2, Insightful)
Which was all pretty clearly spelled out in the movie, I think.
Re:Don't anthropomorphize chemical compounds. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Don't anthropomorphize chemical compounds. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here's another question ... (Score:1, Insightful)
I assume what you were suggesting is that intelligent design could better explain life as we know it and frankly there's a reason ID has been dead in any serious scientific resarch for over a hundred years. the reasons being that by definition explains *nothing* in biology. that's the point, to argue that there isn't an explanation for anything in biology by any materialistic [evidence based] explanation therefore God did it... and there's the end of intelligent design, no evidence, no predictions, no explanation, nothing at all. It fails to explain *anything* at all that we already know let alone predict anything which makes it pretty useless other than being a God of the gaps argument.