Biology is, of course, creative. Without a little non-linear thinking to dream up new conceptual approaches and methodologies, some of the best experiments ever conducted would have never left the drawing board. But when it comes to communicating scientific results -- even stunning, revolutionary ones -- the literature can be drier than chalk dust.
A new project sponsored by The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) -- a UK-based organization for research and training in social and economic issues -- aims to change that. Comprised of contributions from writers, scientists, and others around the world, linkurl:The Human Genre Project;http://www.humangenreproject.com/index.php seeks to spread the word about human genomics through short stories, reflections and poems. The mapping of the human genome is "one of the great landmarks of recent science," says linkurl:Adam Roberts,;http://www.adamroberts.com/ a science fiction writer, professor of 19th century literature at Royal Holloway, University of...
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George Gastin |
Excerpt from "Code of Forgetting"She was tall, and green-eyed, and red-haired, and fair; her limbs were long, and her fingers slim and tapered; she had a secret birthmark on her left hip, the one small blemish that had to mar absolute perfection lest it prove too [sic] be too much for her imperfect world to hold. All these things that were written in her DNA, passed down from ancestors like legacies, a memory written in code of four letters: A C G T. On those four letters rested everything that she was, or could become."Chromosome 13"
This chromosomal Usual Suspects line:
Tentacle arms in I surrender pose; Look closer, though: each is made of zips.
The microtubal slider is drawn down Their lines sag open, yawn, and through
These smallest needle-eyes emerge Men, elephants and whales; bulked biospheres:
A meta boa's swallow in reverse. This isn't a surrender: they've all won.
The arms are up in celebration.
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Tentacle arms in I surrender pose; Look closer, though: each is made of zips.
The microtubal slider is drawn down Their lines sag open, yawn, and through
These smallest needle-eyes emerge Men, elephants and whales; bulked biospheres:
A meta boa's swallow in reverse. This isn't a surrender: they've all won.
The arms are up in celebration.
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