National DNA Day

Today, April 25th, is National DNA Day. This is an annual celebration commemorating the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. This is a really cool site to browse and you can learn a lot about DNA and stuff (being unscientific I used stuff). Here are a few facts from the site:

• A genome is the complete set of DNA instructions in your cells.
• The genomes of any two people are more than 99% the same.
• The 1% accounts for variations among humans thus making us different.
• You have 75-100 trillion cells in your body.

You can check the site if you'd like more information!

Just because I can do it, here is a link to an article on DNA fingerprinting from the Encyclopedia Britannica. I can do this because I'm an official web publisher and signed up for their free service. This allows me to link to articles for your edification. Aren't you glad you are reading this blog?

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know that yesterday the Senate passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act by a vote of 95-0. This protects you from discrimination based on your genetic information. What I find most interesting is that this has been debated in Congress for 13 years. It took them 13 years to decide non-discrimination was a good thing? Your tax dollars at work.

I would have posted more information from the site but my sight has deteriorated due to a freak accident. Well, deteriorated may be overstating it. I bent over to pick up my purse last night and a pencil that was in a cup on the end table poked me in the eye. It hurt quite a bit! I really can see but my eye still hurts and is a little red. Since I'm injured hopefully someone else will POST something!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress