Tim Minchin explains evolution and genomics in an animated video

Tracy King sends us an "animated history of genetics from Nature to celebrate the release of ENCODE. Narrated by Tim Minchin and animated by the team who made Storm. Written by Adam Rutherford (Nature), Andrew Ellard (Red Dwarf, IT Crowd) and Tracy King (TAM London).

Ever since a monk called Mendel started breeding pea plants we've been learning about our genomes. In 1953, Watson, Crick and Franklin described the structure of the molecule that makes up our genomes: the DNA double helix. Then, in 2001, scientists wrote down the entire 3-billion letter code contained in the average human genome. Now they're trying to interpret that code; to work out how it's used to make different types of cells and different people. The ENCODE project, as it's called, is the latest chapter in the story of you.

The Story of You: ENCODE and the human genome (Thanks, Tracy!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo

SQUEEEEEEEEE

/watches
http://twitter.com/nantel Andre Nantel

I’ll be covering the ENCODE project in class next week at McGill University, and I don’t know whether to cringe or smile.

One thing is certain, we’ll have A LOT of discussions about the intersect between functional genomics and popular media.
brillow

I love how people now include Franklin along with Watson and Crick with the DNA discovery, but NO ONE EVER includes the 3rd guy who won the original Nobel:
Maurice Wilkins.
Ito Kagehisa

I liked that even better than his angry atheist rant. A nice simple treatment accessible to a wide audience.