June - July Challenge Theme: Genetics

The theme for June / July was genetics. Only two team members tackled this challenge, but they were too good not to feature here.

First up is Helices, an original watercolor by Genevieve of SummerQuarters.

I love the addition of the accessory proteins controlling DNA transcription and gene activity. The cheery orange-red background makes this a piece I can really see hanging in a doctor's office.

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Next up is this amazing collagen color spectrum by Kristin of ArtAtomic.

It doesn't look like much at first (especially at this size), but once you know what it is, you can't help but think "oooooh! COOL!" In Kristin's own words:

A color spectrum, based on the amino acid sequence of the protein Collagen. First, I wrote a program in Python, to analyze the amino acid frequencies in a sequence. Then I wrote a second program to visualize the results.

It'll be really interesting to see how the spectra change depending on the size, composition and function of the protein scanned. I'd like to see some GPCRs and other transmembrane proteins to see how they differ from globular and structural proteins.

Kristin ran the code for insulin in her program next:

These color maps are fantastic! I think a print of a scientist's favorite protein would make the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for nerd... and would look just as awesome in a baby's nursery as it would in a doctor's office!

Hop of over to Kristin's blog for more details. 

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The challenge theme for August / September is Hypatia of Alexandria - what are you going to create?

Documentary Review: Playing God

I put off watching this one for a while because the title was just so dumb, honestly. Phrases like "playing God" and so forth perpetuate this image of science as a reckless, thoughtless endeavor; a field of study full of people who don't consider the consequences or repercussions of what they do. It paints this image of science as something that will ultimately doom us all and glosses over all of the good that science has brought us.

It's doubly unfortunate that Playing God has such a stupid title, then, because it's seriously the most amazing thing I've seen in a while. All of the documentaries I've watched so far have been good, of course, but this is the first that made me go, "Holy shit!"

It's another BBC production, this time hosted by Adam Rutherford. This one is all about genetics and what amazing things scientists are doing with gene splicing: goats that produce tougher-than-Kevlar spider silk in their milk, radiation treatment in tiny carbon capsules injected under astronauts' skin, purely synthetic materials created with squid camouflaging genes that will change color from the carbon dioxide in your breath, brewer's yeast that make petroleum instead of alcohol. Everything in here sounds like the stuff of science fiction, and yet scientists are creating this today.

The good: Everything. Just...everything. It also raises legitimate ethical concerns, not fluffy fear-mongering.

The bad: The documentary gives a little too much credence to the "are we meddling with what we should not?" view in some places, but for the most part avoids that trap entirely.

One interesting fact: It was all interesting, but I think my favorite part was the "citizen science" lab that was set up in the community center of some town in California. For a small membership fee, John Q. Public can now perform science experiments that, just a few years ago, were only possible to do in university laboratories. I wish something like that had been available when I was a kid!

Would recommend? A must-see. Put your NetFlix queue on hold and watch this one tonight. Seriously.