Wednesday 8 August 2007

A knitted double helix

Sorry for the break in transmission, I've been on holiday in sunny Boston but more on that another day...

I know that us scientists have always been considered to be a bit strange, and I suspect that the following is just going to confirm that suspicion... but I'm going to show you anyway!

Let me present a bit of knitted DNA:



My PhD student who is currently writing up her thesis (and is therefore constantly on the look-out for more interesting things to look at) found this site on the web, forwarded it to me and the rest is, as they say, history. It spoke to me on so many levels you just wouldn't comprehend. I particularly liked the thought that the first attempt she made was a left-handed helix and as DNA is right-handed, she then set out to correct the turn. I also love the way that the base-pairs are represented in colour and always with the correct pairings.


I've knitted this in Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran and stuffed it with machine-washable toy stuffing and will be giving it to a friend who has a 4 month-old baby. I think it will make an excellent pram toy and my friend (who is also a virologist) will appreciate the biology and the washability!

1 comment:

Arianwen said...

I really like that! It looks similar to the wooden toys with bells in that my children had when they were tiny.