Health NewsDNA in the plot – Part II
At this year’s ATA Science Council conference I talked about how often these days we are faced with both fact and fiction about DNA. I also talked about how things that were fiction back in the 1990’s are now reality less than 15 years later. I mentioned that movies such as Gattaca are great for generating discussion about the issues and societal impact. I’m faced with this conflicting juxtaposition of ideas as I write this blog. In my newspaper today….
DNA in the Plot
My Biopunk partner hasn’t written about these ones yet, but on Sunday, I ended up watching a series of movies on TV with DNA in the plot. First up, the B-movie Sumuru. I channel surfed into this one and would have gone right out except the discussion of DNA caught my attention. What I gathered was that these two guys from earth pick a planet full of women to help the human DNA line survive. I think they were suggesting some kind of founder effect into the future. I wondered if in fact they were not suggesting more a Genghis Khan effect. I never found out as before the movie was resolved my doorbell rang and by the time I got back to my TV, Star Trek: Insurrection was on. What!!! Now we have regenerative radiation having a positive effect on the DNA to prevent ageing. Wow!!!
Otzi! Otzi! Otzi!!!
This was the chant that my daughter and I had as we toured through Italy. We had planned our trip to work our way from learning more about the ancient Romans at Ostia Antica and then work our way to the ultimate destination of our trip, the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano: home of Otzi the Iceman. And now we are here.
The two of us have been fascinated by Otzi since we first heard of him back in the fall of 1991 when he was first discovered in the ice of the Otzal Alps by Erika and Helmut Simon. This week, conflicting research results about Otzi’s DNA has been published.
