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Polymerase chain reaction is a cornerstone of molecular biology research. Using short pieces of single-stranded DNA called primers the previously invisible becomes tangible.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Get Back To Ya

Chromosomal breakage can result in transposition, inversion or gene duplication. In addition to events like meiotic crossing over and mutation, chromosomal breakage explains how genetic information changes incrementally yet persists through time.

My other summer projects have priority over my pleasure reading. Thus, I didn’t have time to finish David Mitchell’s, Cloud Atlas, before it was due back at the library. This was an interesting read. Six short stories spanning eras but bound by themes and perhaps genetics. The prose of a couple of the stories took some getting used to. To compound the matter, Mitchell interrupts the first story, not only mid-thought, but also inexcusably mid-sentence. At first I thought it was a printing error. I turned the page. It was blank. Then a google search informed me that this was Mitchell’s intention.

A, B, C, D, E, F, E, D, C, B, A.

Okay, I get it. It’s like a Stravinsky inversion. The themes refer to among others, Marx, Nietzsche and The Police. The structural gymnastics and the diversity of style are mostly engaging. At times, however, it was just annoying. I’ll update this in September when I get around to reading the last section.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So, uh....?