DNA Directly Observed for the First Time

[Pikochu]

This is too awesome not to share with Victory Road members who has yet to come across this.

I'm sure that if we have taken a basic biology class, we all know what DNA is. Since it might have been awhile, DNA is basically a double-helix polymer that determines you and I.

No one disputes the fact that DNA is the brain of what we are, and for sometime, we all knew structure of DNA in the mid 20th century courtesy of X-ray scans.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt...h-51-image.jpg

Though the double helix structure is widely accepted and pretty much confirmed, we haven't directly seen the DNA structure until recently.
Behold, direct evidence of the DNA structure that we know and love.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...irst-time.html

For those who need Scientific Rigor    

Here's the actual paper:



http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/nl3039162

Today must be a great day for molecular biology and that we can further find more about genetics and what we are biologically. It'd be interesting how much further that Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering will go in the next 20 years...

[The Spirit of Time]

Quite interesting. I hope they can build upon this to be able to view DNA replication and transcription at such a high magnification.

[Quadcentruo]

It's only a matter of time until we start manipulating DNA to obtain the characteristics we want our kids to have. Gattaca, anyone?

This just reminds me of how ironic the current state of the world is - we have some of the most intelligent scientists working to discover the secrets of life, yet we also have one of the largest populations of ignoramuses this planet has seen.

[Twiggy]

Originally Posted by Quadcentruo

It's only a matter of time until we start manipulating DNA to obtain the characteristics we want our kids to have. Gattaca, anyone?

This just reminds me of how ironic the current state of the world is - we have some of the most intelligent scientists working to discover the secrets of life, yet we also have one of the largest populations of ignoramuses this planet has seen.

Ironic as it might be, you can't exactly blame it on anyone, seeing as the world's population is being pretty high and still going up. A large size of everything, and you're gonna get all shades of it.

Though, given today's education systems... Yeah, I can see the point.

I'd imagine that this can be very useful to prevent severe genetic defects... right?

[Quadcentruo]

Originally Posted by Twiggy

I'd imagine that this can be very useful to prevent severe genetic defects... right?

Probably in the near future as we continue to progress towards learning all that we can about DNA. The initial altering of DNA would probably cost a fortune to order, just as ordering a cloned body part for a person using their own DNA would cost a fortune in the current times.

[The Spirit of Time]

We still need time before altering a DNA molecule, but viewing at that closely is a major step as it could help us to identify the causes of many genetic diseases, including cancer, and possible methods to stop/cure them.