(no subject)

Scientists search for "forbidden sequences in the genome - ones so harmful that they are not compatible with life".

"It's like looking for a needle that's not actually in the haystack," says Greg Hampikian, professor of genetics at Boise State University in Idaho, who is leading the project. "There must be some DNA or protein sequences that are not compatible with life, perhaps because they bind some essential cellular component, for example, and have therefore been selected out of circulation. There may also be some that are lethal in some species, but not others. We're looking for those sequences."
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Further down the line there is the possibility of constructing a "suicide gene" to code for deadly amino acid primes. It could be attached to genetically modified organisms and activated to destroy them at a later date if they turned out to be dangerous, Hampikian suggests.

In other news, "For the first time, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine what parts of the brain are active when people consider whether to purchase a product and to predict whether or not they ultimately choose to buy the product."

Anybody else imagining a future when people who have been identified as particularly resistant to sales pitches will be treated to gene therapy with a suicide gene? Have I just read too much dystopian fiction?

In other news (link via supergee),

NEW YORK - Sick subway passengers, most of them dieters who faint from dizziness, are among the top causes of train delays, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Your line for the suicide gene starts over there to the left. Take your diet books with you to read while you wait. Don't mind me, I'll just be sitting over here eating my limited-edition mint dark chocolate Kit-Kats (on sale for 75% off!).

In entirely unrelated news, and in spite of objections by people who believe for some reason that all American lawmakers should be sworn in on the Bible and that using any other holy book is un-Amurrican, Minnesota's Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use the Koran when he takes his oath of office--Thomas Jefferson's Koran.

Art link of the moment

Because a fipplebuss post reminded me of it:

Inversions by Scott Kim. The site hasn't been updated lately, but it's well worth looking through if you haven't seen Kim's work recently.