Dr. How's Science Wows

Fun Friday – Five Fantastic Facts about DNA and how to extract DNA from a banana

August 15, 2014March 25, 2017nao

Dr. Simple was explaining a little about DNA in the last post, so I thought I would share one of the first experiments my children ever asked me to do with them…. they wanted to see DNA, so we extracted it from a banana.

Did you know that we share approximately 50% of our DNA with bananas?

You will need…

… a banana, a fork, a bowl, washing up liquid, ice cold surgical spirits (or isopropanol – both available from a pharmacy), salt, a sieve, a glass jar.

What to do…

Remove the banana skin and mash the banana in the bowl, using the fork. Add two teaspoons of washing up liquid and stir slowly.

Add a teaspoon of salt and one to two tablespoons of water and stir carefully.

You want to avoid making bubbles.

Leave for five minutes then strain carefully through the sieve into the jar.

Tilt the glass jar and carefully pour the surgical spirits down the side of the jar, at least as thick as the banana layer. This will form a separate layer on top of the banana mixture.

Do not mix.

After five to ten minutes you will see a long, stringy substance appear in the top layer. This is the banana’s DNA.

You can use a tooth pick to lift and examine the DNA.

So what is happening?

The salt and washing up liquid break open the banana cells, releasing the DNA.

The DNA will not dissolve in the surgical spirits (or any alcohol) so it floats in this layer.

Here are a five fantastic facts about DNA…

The experiment described above is just a quick and simple method that I have used before but if you want something more scientific and a lot more fun… check out Cell Explorers! They do amazing school visits, for junior infants right up to secondary level students, which I am sure would be of interest to teacher or parents making suggestions in their own schools. Run by Dr. Muriel Grenon and her wonderful team of students and graduates these activities are really top class! Contact them by email at cellexplorers@nuigalway.ie

A Simple Slice of Science – How can I make two of me?

August 15, 2014August 19, 2014nao

This week’s question for Dr. Simple is a real gem and comes from six year old Abigail (you might find her mentioned here too)…

How can I make two of me?

I think if Abigail is asking these questions at the age of six then she will really go far, don’t you agree?

Here is what Dr. Simple has to say on the matter… and don’t adjust your screens if you think you are seeing double!

Image source: http://calvinandhobbes.wikia.com/wiki/Transmogrifier

So there you have it! Hopefully a simple answer to a really wonderful question. It certainly opens up the discussion of whether we should be cloning or not. As a geneticist myself I wouldn’t be encouraging it, but I do have a much simpler answer… I reckon if Abigail could just build herself a Transmogrifier then she will really have nailed the whole cloning thing. She could turn herself into another Abigail and the job would be done!

If you do make one Abigail, can I borrow it?

Looking back over early memories lead to a whole set of new ones

August 12, 2014August 12, 2014nao

Last Thursday an article I wrote about earliest memories, appeared in The Journal. A lovely bonus to the last day of what was already a great holiday. The next day I reluctantly took my attention off articles and holidays and sunshine (sigh) and turned it instead to packing! All else was forgotten as I scoured a big house full of 17 people, trying to work out what belonged to who, and visa versa.

photo credit: homelesshub via photopin cc

Needless to say I didn’t need any encouragement when a coffee break was offered an hour into the task. As I settled into the break I retrieved my phone and was surprised to see it full of messages, texts and emails. It turned out my article on The Journal was receiving a bit of interest from the land of radio.

One message (thanks Lorna 😉 ) informed me that the article was being discussed on the Ryan Tubridy show. Woohoo! Here is the link if you want to listen…

Ryan Tubridy, 2FM (Friday 8th August, 2014; discussion starts 1 hour 7 minutes into the program)

The subject of earliest memories became a topic of the show, with people sharing their own earliest memories.

Then I opened my email to find a message from Spin radio 103.8 looking to interview me on the article. Double woohoo (and a bit of nerves to boot!). Suddenly all thoughts of packing were forgotten and we all ran around like headless chickens trying to find a spot with WiFi and phone signal. We didn’t have much luck! Eventually I found a quiet corner at the top of the house and arrangements were made. I had just enough time for a quick swim to calm my nerves before the interview (I may have just thrown that one in there to make you all jealous 😉 ).

Swim over I found myself talking to the lovely Lauren and Gordon from The Spin… me hanging out a window in Mallorca and them, I imagine, sitting a little more comfortably in a studio in Dublin. That’s modern technology for you! Despite the nerves I really enjoyed the short interview, I was surprised how much fun it was. Unfortunately I don’t have an audio link for the interview.

A lovely end to a great holiday, and I am sure I will remember these events for a long time to come… just by writing about memories I created a few more. It was hard to get my mind back into the packing but we managed and took the long journey back home. The holiday was full of inspiration, l have lots to blog about over the next few weeks…even on holidays I’m still a scientist at heart!

Science Wows takes a holiday – and leaves you with some travel tips (not for the faint hearted)

July 28, 2014July 27, 2014nao

It is holiday time in the Science Wows house today. Hopefully, while you are reading this I will be jetting off to somewhere nice and sunny for a bit of R&R and to soak up those rays (Sunscreen packed of course!)

The first half of our summer holidays has gone really well so far, despite a bumpy start. The four year old assumed the holidays from school also meant we were about to hop on a plane to foreign lands and was quite put out when that didn’t turn out to be the case.

He got over it soon enough, but there is no denying his enthusiasm. He chose his suitcase months ago and has had it stashed under his bed ever since. When the “week to the holiday” whistle was blown he decided it was time to pack. His brother joined in too and it was the best morning long activity of the whole summer so far. The only issue I would have with it is the content of their suitcases.

Here is an example of what they packed…

Chess set X 1 (this has now been moved to the hand luggage!)

Moshi monsters X 1,000 (I may be rounding it off but that gives a pretty good estimate)

Loom bands X 1,000 (and NO that is not me exaggerating again!)

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (this alone has probably used up the entire Ryan air luggage weight quota – but apparently it is an essential for travelling to anywhere foreign)

Spot anything missing from their suitcases? That’s right… clothes! Who needs them, apparently!

As part of this lovely linky over at Colorines Wonderful I have been inspired to share with you some tips on travelling with children. I have kept this one to the air-travel side of things!

The first one is obvious… don’t let your children pack their own suitcases 😉

Keep it light and simple! I used to think I had the hand luggage sorted, covering every option, every food group, every recreational preference. All I really had was over packed bags and a sore shoulder from all the weight. Have you ever tried to retrieve a scattered set of colouring pencils from under the seat of a plane?

This leads nicely on to the next tip, once your children are old enough GET THEM TO CARRY THEIR OWN HAND LUGGAGE! They will quickly ditch all those extras!

Travel days are not the time to worry about their five a day! I used to pack all the healthy food stuff but it really just means you are trying to cover up the dried fruit and bread sticks mashed into the aeroplane seat! Once they are not filling on e-numbers and lots of fizzy drinks then its a good day to chill and ignore regular meal times and nutritional content.

Don’t underestimate how long a child can take in the toilet when you really need to get moving. Try to get this business out of the way WELL before the flight even boards! I am sure there must be a mathematical formula out there proving how the speed of the child’s bodily functions is inversely proportional to the amount of time you have to dash to the boarding gate and smile sweetly at the irate air staff who have called you by name because you are THAT late!

When on the plane REMEMBER TO BREATH! The more relaxed you are, the calmer your children will be… and the less likely they will be to spend the entire journey kicking the seat in front of them!

If you are travelling with a baby… your entire hand luggage should only consist of spare changes of clothing. Bring three times more nappies than you can ever imagine needing. You would not believe what those altitudes can do to a child’s digestive system but you are likely to find out as well as learning how hard it is to change a baby in an aeroplane toilet! And yes, I am definitely speaking from experience on this one!

Once the flight is over NEVER ask another parent how they got on! They may be in denial and make you feel even worse than you already do!

Finally, once you have all the luggage collected and children corralled you can start to smile again and relax. Unless you have yet to collect the rental car; In that case we go right back to …REMEMBER TO BREATH!

After reading all this you may want to check out the other posts in the linky, for some more realistic, and optimistic tips and advice 🙂

In the meantime enjoy your summer holidays, whatever you are doing or wherever you are going and I will be back here very soon to WOW you with some more scientific takes on every day life.

Until we meet again this is what I will be at…

A simple slice of science – Why do we yawn?

July 24, 2014nao

This week’s question comes from seven year old Emily, who, I hear is always asking her mum questions… sometimes her mum even writes about it here.

Emily wants to know….

Why do we yawn?

Dr. Simple will try to stop yawning long enough to answer the question…. because yawning is contagious! See how many times you yawn while reading this and leave us a note in the comments below!

So, go on, tell us how many times did you yawn?

Further reading/references:

The surprising science of yawning

Different yawn, different functions?

In group/out group bias in contagious yawning

Individual Variation in Contagious Yawning Susceptibility Is Highly Stable and Largely Unexplained by Empathy or Other Known Factors.

Ants with wings – a new fashion trend or something out of a horror movie?

July 22, 2014nao

You would want to be living under a rock not to have seen them! Last week I was literally covered in them during an evening stroll; then it seems the infestation spread… yesterday it arrived in Dublin! Seagull invasions are so last week… we are all talking “flying ants”.

Ants with wings is this something new?

Not really. There is no one species of winged ants but many species will produce wings during a certain stage of the life cycle of the colony. As we all know, ants like to be busy so if all the chores are done, the larder is full, the young are being tended to and the queen is happy, well there is really only one job left to do…. procreate!

And it is a lot easier to get out there and find the right ant for you if you can grow a pair of wings for a while!

To put it a little more scientifically… in mature, thriving colonies, some eggs, treated under the right conditions, will produce winged ants, both male and female. The females are virgin queens with the potential to start a new colony of their own. The males, well, they have only one thing on their mind!

Why so many?

The newly produced winged ants will remain in the colony until conditions are right for what is referred to as the Nuptial flight. These flights are very weather dependant, requiring warm temperatures with little chance of strong wind or rain. The ants will all leave the colony together in one coordinated flight. This is also synchronised with the flight of ants for neighbouring colonies.

The large numbers serve two purposes….

firstly, they increase the chances of a significant number of ants surviving predation and successfully mating and starting new colonies

secondly, where reproduction is concerned, it is always a good idea to widen the gene pool. The large swarms of flying ants from many different colonies allows cross breeding and the creation of a stronger genetic line.

What happens to the winged ants after the “deed is done”?

After mating both the male and female ants loose their wings.

The female will often mate with several males during the mating process but this will be the only time in her life that she will mate. She stores the male sperm in a pouch in her body called the spermatheca. After mating she will dig a nest to start her own colony… the sex on her offspring is decided by her. All fertilised eggs are female, all non fertilised eggs are male.

When she starts a colony she will produce only female ants, each of which will be infertile and wingless.The queen tends to the first set of eggs on her own but once the worker ants are reared they will tend to her every need and the needs of the colony.

The males? Well they actually die soon after mating… it is their sole purpose.. tough job but what a noble one!