A little light reading

A perfect stocking stuffer for little Jimmy:

Japanese researchers have come up with the must-have book
for scientists -- a hardback edition on mouse DNA. The 172-page
encyclopaedia looks like an average book but it is printed on
water-soluble paper and includes all of the 60,000 active genes in the
mouse. But instead of words, New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday
it was made up of dots that hold copies of the DNA from the genes. "To
read this book, researchers punch out the paper dots containing the DNA
clones -- copied from the gene expressed in mouse cells -- and dissolve
them in water," according to the weekly science magazine. Yoshihide
Hayashizaki from the RIKEN Genomic Center in Yokohama, Japan developed
the book to cut the costs of delivering genetic material to
universities and biotech companies. The sequence information is
available electronically on the Internet but DNA must be sent through
the post and the whole genome must be packaged in dry ice and can cost
up to $5,000.
So far only 10 copies of the book have been published.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 6, 2003 at 01:32 PM | Permalink