sort of weird
Unicorn to be sequenced with 30x coverage
Man, mouse, Methanopyrus… and still counting the nucleotides. The genomes of 960 species have been sequenced by the end of July (as you can see on the relevant NCBI web page).
Out of all reason, however, the genomes of some relevant species were so far ignored by the scientific community. Just think of Crisensus bavaricus, of […]
Anthropologist stumbles over faked skulls
An incredible affair of faked skulls has found its inglorious end at a district court in Frankfurt, Germany. Reiner Protsch von Zieten, a previous highly respected professor of anthropology, was given an 18-month suspended sentence. Protsch had been debunked some years ago of systematically falsifying the dates of numerous major stone-age relics (see the Guardian […]
How to win a piece of the moon??
Space aficionados around the world are electrified by an announcement made by the New Scientist. On the front cover of the print copy’s issue from June 13th, 2009 the weekly science magazine attracts its readers with the following promise calling attention in a screaming yellow circle:
>> WIN! This piece of the moon <<
Wow! A real […]
Get your clone uncontaminated
It’s not unusual for a paternity test to reveal unpleasant truths about the kiddy (and its genitor).
The outcome of a Texas paternity test in May, however, wasn’t only unusual - it was crazy. Here’s the story.
A mother and her fiancĂ© decided to take a paternity test due to the puzzling different facial features of their […]
Lousy DNA analysis fools German police
The mysterious phantom killer the German police was searching after for years has finally been identified: it is a cotton swab. The photo below shows the wrongdoer after its arrest by a police investigator.
The search was extensive and sometimes extremely dangerous as you can see on this top secret snapshot taken by accident in 2004 […]
Cool youtube movies #1
Tired of everyday’s boring lab routine? Let’s change the channel and take a look at YouTube where really cool stuff can be found, such as …
… the Large Hadron Rap (referring to CERN’s Large Hadron Collider) whose backup-dancers, ha-ha, prefer anonymity, according to the credits (and I know why they prefer it!).
A more comical clip […]
The most useful genome for committing a crime
What is the optimal qualification to get out of a tight spot after you have committed a crime? Coolness? Unscrupulousness? Brutality? Exceptional intelligence? Or stupid constables (LOL)?
The unexpected answer is that the optimal qualification for a thug to get away without punishment is to have the adequate, well, genome. No, dude, I am not speaking […]
The web’s most popular genes
Recently, your Mr. Gene was crouching in front of his good old computer when, all of a sudden, it crossed his mind to google the word, well, “gene”.
Having performed this, Mr. Gene proudly presents the ultimate Gene Ranking, powered by Google:
1) Placed 1st is Gene, Elsevier’s International Journal of Functional and Evolutionary Genomics. If you […]
Who’s calling? - it’s me, your houseplant!
Any hobby gardeners aboard? Recently, I came across a somehow weird website that promoted “communication between plants and people”. Plants (soundbite!) “that might otherwise be neglected are given the ability to call and text message people to request assistance”.
Plants that place phone calls for human help! No kidding!! Such well-connected networking plants will be all […]
Harvard “EXPERTS” blow away 16 billion
Ever toyed with the idea of sending your spoiled offspring to a US-based elite academy, say Harvard University?
Forget it. Harvard, the oldest institution of higher learning in the US (world-renowned for its multi-billion foundation and its 43 Nobel laureates!), is setting its sights lower.
Most laureates are still aboard, but many billions vanished recently. Blown away! […]
