Watching the DNA documentary: President Clinton, the Peacemaker.

[NNadir]

At the request of my 11 year old son, who is developing an interest in genetics, I took out a DVD documentary from the public library called "DNA: The Human Race." It might be some sort of PBS thing, I don't know.

Anyway, the documentary was basically coverage of the politics of the human genome race, in which the public effort, led by James Watson at Cold Spring and the private effort led by the now famous Craig Ventner.

I had no idea about the hostility that surrounded the effort, the lack of communication, the furious competition and the personal contempt.

One of the people who helped smooth things was the President of the United States, who directed peacemaking between the groups.

It made me want to cry. Imagine that a President who not only cared about science, but did his best to foster it. How far we've fallen in six short years.

[cantstandbush]

1. i miss Clinton too. About the DNA race...scientist are among the most

self-absorbed and egotistic people on earth. I guess that's what makes them scientist. But the special egos, liars, and scientific misconduct surrounds those revered folks fromt the NIH. If you only knew what goes on behind the scenes at both the NIH and Institutions it funds. Money, indeed, is the root of all evil.

[tridim]

2. Speaking of which, did anyone else see the doc on Craig Venter's work

mapping the genomes of tiny ocean life? "Cracking The Ocean Code".. It was on Discovery channel over the weekend.

Craig Venter is the guy who mapped the human genome and is now looking at the genes of new ocean species that digest CO2 and convert it to oxygen and hydrogen. The implications for biofuel and global climate are staggering. It was just nice to see someone that actually cares about our planet and survival of the human species.

The explanation of gene sequencing in the show is amazing. I've never understood how it was done until I saw the show. They basically feed in a bunch of random DNA stripped from an unknown quantity of new organisms and the supercomputer spits out new gene sequences as it figures them out. Darwin would have had an orgasm seeing this stuff happen.

Try to catch the rerun if you can. http://dhd.discovery.com/tvlistings/series.jsp?series=116632&gid=0&channel=DHD