Sharing percentages of our DNA with banana’s and cats…explained
Article by Alejandra Enciso Guzmán
The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center recently welcomed it’s new exhibit: Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code. A concept that seems very easy to explain now, but has been worked on for many years, to get to that point. Picture an instruction manual on how we work and where we come from. Genome explains this with various interactive exhibits like touch screens that show how it is that we are born with the features we are born with – not just ‘my grandma’s smile’ but even family illnesses. It all has to do with our DNA code. It took nearly a decade, three billion dollars, and thousands of scientists to sequence the human genome in 2003. And thanks to the pioneering work of the Human Genome Project, knowing more about ourselves, and our world can be possible as explained in the exhibit.
The 4.5 million dollar exhibit is divided into various stations that teach different aspects and applications of this important topic like agriculture, ancestry, livestock, forensics and bioengineering. There is even a ‘how to’ on purifying your DNA.
The inspiration for “Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code” came about nearly two years ago, when the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) began looking ahead to 2013 – an epic anniversary for genomics, marking 60 years since Watson and Crick’s first 1953 report of the DNA double-helix and 10 years since the 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project.
Wanting to celebrate these milestones with an event that would educate, inform, and engage the greater public, NHGRI partnered with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) to launch what may be the largest collaboration to date between the National Institutes of Health and a Smithsonian museum. The 4,400-square foot exhibition, opened June 14, 2013 at the National Mall.
This is a fun and didactic high tech trip for the whole family. There is a virtual tour on the website but of course, experiencing it live is way better. Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code will be at the Reuben Fleet until Sunday January 4th, 2015. The Museum is open daily starting 10:00am. For closing times and admission costs please click here.
