Interesting Facts

DNA is commonly used as an abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid, but as usual it all depends on context. It also stands for Does Not Apply, Did Not Attend or Data Not Available

25th April DNA day.

25th April 1719 - Daniel Defoe's famous book, Robinson Crusoe, was published. 1886 - Sigmund Freud opened his practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna. 1953 - James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA. 1967 - The first law legalizing abortion in the United States was signed into law by Colorado Gov. John Arthur Love. 2005 - A Japanese commuter train crashed near Osaka, killing more than 70 people and injuring more than 300 others.

Research into sleeping patterns carried out at the University of Surrey, have shown that working night shifts sends the human body into chaos, and could cause lasting damage to health. (Working irregular shifts has a similar effect to severe jet lag or repeatedly missing sleep. Even more worryingly it has a damaging effect at the level of our DNA, with hundreds of genes, whose activity should rise and fall on a daily basis, losing their rhythm, and other genes developing abnormal cycles of their own. So basically not getting enough sleep is bad for you, and sleeping at the wrong time is bad for you too.  We can't win!) Source

White supremacist Craig Cobb has achieved national notoriety in the USA, by attempting to turn Leith, North Dakota into an all-white enclave. (The town of Leith has even gone so far as to create its own national socialist hunting flag, complete with stag horns and only a small “discreet” swastika.  If they tried that in Germany, they'd be arrested. However, what makes this story so much fun is, according to the Telegraph, Mr Cobb may now be unable to meet the racial purity benchmark he set to settle in his own town after the tests showed he was 14 per cent sub-Saharan African.  His interview on the Trisha Show is a must see (normally I'm not a fan of daytime TV, but this one is priceless). DNA tests are so cool. If you don't believe me, read this:  http://web.mit.edu/racescience/in_media/what_dna_says_about_human/) BTW - You will hear him spout the old "Oil and water don't mix" phrase.  However:- http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn340...

A Beatles fan is allegedly aiming to clone John Lennon from DNA extracted from a tooth. (The tooth was sold in auction (which in itself is profoundly disturbing), and bought for just under £20,000 by Canadian dentist Michael Zuk. He is now attempting to sequence the DNA, which is the first step in the cloning process. (He's also selling Lennon DNA pendants and tooth dust.) You can follow the story on http://www.johnlennontooth.com/ Yes, that is a valid web address.) 

Researchers from the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam ave identified genetic factors that contribute to facial appearance. (The scientists have managed to identify 9 points, including the position of the cheekbones, the distance between the eyes, and the height, width and length of the nose. This could mean that the good old photo-fit might be a thing of the past, as it may be possible in the future to produce portraits of suspects from a scrap of their DNA.)  

Researchers at Boston University  claim they can predict whether someone will live to 100 with up to 85 per cent accuracy. (A fter studying the DNA of centenarians and identifying common genetic variations  t hey have  developed a genetic test for healthy ageing,  which may have contributed to their longevity, but the test  is most reliable late in life, meaning it is unlikely to be useful as an early predictor of lifespan. Would you really want to know though?  I mean, they can't predict whether you'll be run over by a bus, can they.) Source : 

DNA analysis has shown that the Egyptian jackal, previously believed to be a subspecies of the golden jackal, is actually a relative of the grey wolf. (Genetic information shows that the species, Canis aureus lupaster, is more closely related to Indian and Himalayan wolves than golden jackals. It has now been renamed "African wolf", and it's the only grey wolf species found in Africa.) Source: Plos One

According to research published in the journal Current Biology, each of us has at least 100 new mutations in our DNA. (So does that mean that we're mutating, or evolving?)

Scientists at the University of Colorado in Boulder, USA, have discovered that the bacteria on our hands is different for each individual. (They took swabs from keyboards and were able to match the bacteria they found their to the computer owners. They say that the results could be used in forensic identification, in the same way as DNA. And don't think you can escape with a quick scrub, even scrupulously clean people have about 150 different species of bacteria on their hands. I always knew we had evolved as a complex bug carrier.)

An MP's report by the Home Affairs Select Committee, says that one in every 1,300 crimes solved by police is due to the UK's DNA database. (That's a mere 0.3%. People who watch TV shows like Crimewatch, Waking the Dead and Cold Case, will be very disappointed.)

Scientists have discovered that long strands of DNA code are folded and tightly packed into the nucleus of a human cell. (Unfolded, the cell's genome - those strands of DNA code - would be approximately 2m in length and it's all packed into a tight ball to fit inside a nucleus, which is about one hundredth of a millimetre in diameter. Aren't we amazing?)

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) from 3,000-year-old skeletons can be matched to living descendants. (I'm not sure if I'd want relatives that old turning up on my doorstep.)

It's coming up to Christmas and everyone seems to be buying a real Christmas tree this year. Well, the first tree to have its full DNA code unravelled was the poplar. (I hope it didn't hurt.) Photo by me. Fact Source - Genome Canada Project