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DNA's Error Detecting Code
MagnetarJones writes "Science News Online and Nature.com - Genetic information stored in DNA is read out - transcribed - every time living cells make a new protein molecule to perform some cell function. And this information is copied onto a new strand of DNA when a cell divides. The consequences of wrongly read or copied information can be disastrous. Malfunctioning genes can cause diseases and defects. Errors can occasionally have beneficial effects - they create the mutations that drive the evolutionary process - but they are usually detrimental. Strands of DNA carry information--of the genetic sort--encoded in their chemical structure. Chemist Dónall A. Mac Dónaill of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, has now shown that patterns inherent in the chemical makeup of DNA correspond to a digital error-detecting code. His report appears in the Sept. 12 Chemical Communications."
This is a duplicate of Monday's /.
Lessee, if you represent each base with an odd-parity number, then DNA seems to be doing parity checking? Perhaps another researcher will interpret each nucleotide as a physical representation of a large prime, and claim that DNA is actually RSA-encrypted.
Honestly, does anyone really think that the the "Publish or Perish" academic survival constraint has encouraged the evolution of better academics? Perhaps Slashdot's karma model should be extended to all of academia, with some large percentage of all available funding distributed accordingly.
"How's your ZPE-generator work coming, Roy?"
"It's been cancelled, Sigfried. The whole project got modded Offtopic! But everyone says your 10^1024-qubit computer is quite Insightful. What do you think your chances are of getting the Nobel for this one?"
"Excellent--mostly affected by moderation done to my papers."