Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Searching for Life's Blueprints

Posted by michael on from the fractals-for-fun-and-profit dept.

Makarand writes "If the claims made by the accomplished biophysicist Andras Pellionisz hold any water, life's blueprints may indeed be in fractal patterns found in the DNA. In a human, genes constitute only around 2-3% of the total DNA (the exons). The rest of the non-genic DNA (called introns) play a role that has not yet been understood and some have even suggested that these may merely be evolutionary leftovers. Removal of this "junk-DNA", however, has been proven to be lethal. The introns, he claims, may have the "building construction blueprints" in the form of fractal patterns that the exons use to build living tissue. A patent application covering attempts to count, measure and compare the fractal properties of introns for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes has been made. He hopes his patent will help him launch his company and make it a key player in this field."

9 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. so he can patent some of me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Doesn't DNA itself do this? So isn't he basically patenting all human beings that will be born after his patent is granted? Royalty payments might be something new to think about in parenthood.

  2. i've got him beat by greechneb · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have a patent for using computers to solve anything related to the body. I'll just wait till his company gets further along, and bam, I'll hit him with the suit

  3. Heh by zapfie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Removal of this "junk-DNA", however, has been proven to be lethal.

    Does this scare the shit out of anyone else?

    --
    slashdot!=valid HTML
    1. Re:Heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I always speculated that the "inactive" DNA code was just the comments. Guess I was wrong..... :-)

  4. He hopes his patent will help him ... by C.U.T.M. · · Score: 2, Funny

    He hopes his patent will help him launch his company and make it a key player in this field. ... and take over the world!

    Sounds pretty interesting, I just hope there isn't something deeper seeded in this guy, like wanting to take over the world... *plays pinky and the brain music*

  5. Protect these blueprints by jmcwork · · Score: 1, Funny

    No matter what, they should not give them to Greg Brady. He is sure to lose them.

  6. Re:Math in Nature by product+byproduct · · Score: 2, Funny

    EVERYTHING in nature has an underlying mathematical basis.

    Possibly. But if we ever come up with a mathematical theory explaining female behavior, it will make heavy use of imaginary numbers.

  7. Re:Math in Nature by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, it'll be based on games theory. Or maybe chaos theory.

  8. Re:Just Read Blood Music by Richiemann · · Score: 2, Funny

    That means that if the MPAA find the DECSS code carefully encoded in my DNA, they can sue my ass off??