2/8 - DNA (A Blue Blue Point of View)

Today started off on a note of malaise. Everyone was generally very exhausted because we stayed up late playing card games. However, the blue group summoned all the energy they possessed and faced a new day with exuberance and undeniable enthusiasm. Today our module was DNA (otherwise known as The Secret of Life) and a practical session which included making a necklace out of our own DNA material.

The lesson was rather pedantic and boring because the beginning was highly repetitive and we had covered a lot of Life Sciences in school, of a much greater scope and depth. The style of teaching also didn't deviate much from our school's mode of teaching, and didactic knowledge is after all very homogenous throughout the world, especially when it comes to such permanent and cold hard facts. That bit was quite a letdown. We also watched a video about the discovery of DNA by Watson and Crick. The video offered us many different insights into Watson's life and how goal-oriented and resourceful he was, whether or not it was regarding the personal or scientific epicentre of his life. It also presented many different perspectives about research, and allowed us to see how often those who do most of the background work are often unrecognized, thus initiating us into the dark and murky nature of scientific research - the selfishness, the thirst for fame, the undermining of the process and the general subjugation of the true value of scientific research. Nevertheless, the video did evoke some sentiments in me, particularly regarding my sympathy for Rosalind Franklin, who was truly a brilliant scientist with fervent passion and drive, as well as the mettle - because she passed away from ovarian cancer and was not able to receive the Noble Prize. Also, I think we lost quite some respect for Watson and Crick because they seemed more avaricious to gain fame, and did not do much wet work themselves, but pilfered a lot of scientific results and research from Franklin's tedious and dedicated hours spent at the lab. To be acerbic, that's just being optimistic actually, the video quality was not exactly brilliant and it got a little dull at some points, especially when dabbling in the irrelevant. There were lots of draggy moments which I felt could be shortened, however the saving grace was the encapsulation of the final discovery, which in retrospect can be considered as -quite- inspiring.

Lunch was ... quite delicious. =) After lunch, we went for a practical where we were asked to isolate the DNA of the Kiwi fruit and the cheek cells. We were already very familiar with the process, from denaturing the protein to preparing washing buffers, using ionic detergents like SDS, etc. However, the entire process seemed rather dubious to us as it is quite unlikely that DNA can be so vividly visible and isolated with such ease. What precipitated out was most likely to be protein, not isolated DNA. Also, the necklace turned out looking quite hideous, and only Eechong wore it, can't for the life of me imagine why, except to engage in more amorous escapades...! We all had varying amounts of protein from diffuse wisps to concentrated lumps that resembled tissue paper.

Okay that's about all that happened today. Now physics tuition from Mr Sze is already midway through, and some of them are soon going to play basketball or croquet. We all lead a balanced life. Happy medium *AUM*.

Shalom!