Posted on 04/05/2013 3:51:52 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Teenager astounds scientists by building a DNA testing machine in his bedroom - and he did it to discover why his brother is ginger
A teenager has astounded scientists by building a DNA testing machine in his bedroom in an attempt to discover why his brother is ginger.
Fred Turner, 17, built the machine from items he found around his house, including an old video player, after becoming fascinated by why he has straight brown hair, while his younger brother Gus, 14, has a shock of ginger curls.
Fred from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, impressed scientists so much that he has been named the UKs Young Engineer of the Year.
He said: After years of jokes from my friends saying me and Gus have different dads, I built the machine to test once and for all why my brother is ginger and Im not.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I doubt he’ll be named the UK Grammarian of the Year.
Speaking as an English major, I believe the world has more need of engineers.
Did he use the VCR as a centrifuge, sounds like?
Yes! More power to Fred.
Most universities teach science in such a way that students are taught what they CANNOT do. Getting youngsters at Fred’s age involved in science is the best way to channel scientific innovation.
He wanted to see if his brother had the mutated gene that causes ginger hair, in hopes of finding a cure.
What a bright, focussed young man. Great achievement.
...meant to add, some good parenting, I’ll bet.
Kid? You could’ve just asked the Mailman! ;)
That was my first thought....the head cylinder on those old things spun at 1800 RPM. Though they may have only spun at 1500 RPM in the UK since (if I remember correctly) PAL had a 50hz vertical rate.
And they could spin a glass tube a lot easier than a tensile vcr tape, too. Kudos to the kid, hope he makes a youtube out of it.
Now he knows why his brother is ginger
I’d like to borrow the machine to find why my cousin is nancy
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
Thanks LibWhacker. Jurassic Adultery Ping. |
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I know several Fred Turners. We call them “millenium babies”. Supersmart rugrats under 18 who build incredible things out of household junk, right there in the garage or in the back yard. I’m amazed at the gadgets they come up with. And I say to myself, “I sure hope there isn’t a military application for that!”
Fred, from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, spent a year and £400 building the polymerase chain reaction machine, one component of which was an old video player he found at home. He got the idea after reading about a similar one built by a man in America. Fred describes the device, which would cost £3,000 to buy new, as a 'DNA photocopier'. It amplifies the DNA strands so they can be analysed in a lab.
Fred will now go to Oxford University to study biochemistry
Yes, all the Farkle kids looked like Ferd Berfel. There was Sparkle Farkle, and Simon and Gar Farkle, and a couple others I don’t recall.
Father Farkle never fathomed the fraud.
Looks like there are two pictures of the “bedroom”
Doesn’t “Young Engineer” have to be graduate engineer with diploma or member of engineering society, before can be called engineer?
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