ONE Tom Cruise (1,020,000), plus two Britney Spears (199,000) and six David Beckhams (355,000). Or just two-and-a-bit Madonnas (3,610,000). That鈥檚 how many web hits you get for DNA in this, the golden anniversary year of the day in February 1953 when two excited young scientists told a pub crowd they had found the 鈥渟ecret of life鈥�. DNA easily outclasses those other stars; clearly everyone is hoping the gold will rub off.
So how has the web been celebrating Francis Crick and Jim Watson鈥檚 big year? At the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where the two worked out how the four chemical sub-units underlying DNA fitted together, you鈥檒l find alongside the formal offerings an interactive jigsaw where you can figure out how to pair off the A, C, G and T bases. Unlike the real DNA puzzle, it is still 鈥渦nder development鈥�.
The UK鈥檚 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council has opted for more fun with a DNA poetry competition run from Wales, the land of the bards: closing date 17 October.
Advertisement
A walk on the wild side of New York reveals high art activity. The Art Gallery at the City University鈥檚 Graduate Center, for example, hosted an exhibition in April of 鈥済enetic鈥� works from such luminaries as Marc Quinn (Cloned DNA Self-Portrait), Zhang Huan (Family Tree) and Miwa Yanagi (When I am 50, above).
And the most unusual work? The prize goes to Ellen Sandor鈥檚 contribution to the city-wide DNAge festival. Apparently she captured the 鈥渟ound鈥� of DNA in a sculpture called Telomeres Project on Imminent Immortality.
The Great and the Good in politics and academia have been hard at it, too, with British prime minister Tony Blair throwing a reception at 10 Downing Street, ambassadors holding garden parties, DNA Days at universities, and even a sighting of Watson country dancing at a dinner in his honour in Northumberland.
So was everyone invited to the celebrations? You bet. The late Rosalind Franklin rightly pops up everywhere 鈥� even though she didn鈥檛 get a piece of the Nobel for discovering its structure. Unlike that other rather under-sung DNA hero Maurice Wilkins, the New Zealander who did share the 1962 Nobel with Crick and Watson.
Wilkins can now claim to have not only his own portrait (by Juliet Kac), but a poem dedicated to him called Making Waves (by Chris Orsman) 鈥� commissioned by New Zealand鈥檚 Royal Society.
Is anyone making money out of DNA spin-offs? Of course. The British Royal Mint has a 拢2 commemorative coin. And there鈥檚 a DNA face cream from Stony Brook University LAB21 scientists, a 鈥渢echnological miracle based on鈥he Human Genome Project鈥�. The 鈥渕iracle鈥� is that it鈥檚 customised 鈥� send in a swab from inside your cheek, and voil脿, a 50-gram jar of anti-ageing cream just for you. A bargain at $250. Doubtless Crick, Watson and Wilkins will appreciate the irony.