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In our show (So Called) Life, we interviewed undergrads at MIT giving bacteria genes to make them smell minty fresh. If you are at all disquieted that such young minds are given such profound tools, sorry, bioengineers are getting ever younger..
As part of a program designed to help teachers in NYC schools run a DNA transformation lab, I’ve seen 5th graders engineer bacteria to glow like a certain species of jellyfish found off the coast of Washington State.
These 10-year-olds readily absorb the concept that the DNA code is universal and that bacteria swap and take up bits of DNA in the form of plasmids. Using this information, they predicted the expected results before the experiment. “Why shouldn’t bacteria glow in the dark?” they said. “As long as they have the instructions, it’s easy!”
Tell us what your little scientists are doing these days!
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Yeah, my High School has recently purchased the equipment so that next year the AP Bio class will be able to do the same experiment.
I just did a science experiment, dealing with e.coli, in my college bio. class and it wasn’t nearly as cool as what the 5th graders did. That makes me happy and sad at the same time…
A few weeks ago we extracted DNA from cow liver! But that was as far as my bio class went. It was surprisingly simple. Too bad we couldn’t make the cow liver glow.
“Tell us what YOUR little scientists are doing these days!”
Ah. Journalism.
It is a wonderful time to be alive. I look forward to what these little scientists come up with next.