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Making music out of swine flu
CNN ^ | April 29, 2009 | Elizabeth Landau

Posted on 04/30/2009 3:53:29 AM PDT by grey_whiskers

Swine flu may be inspiring fear worldwide, but for Stephan Zielinski of San Francisco, California, it inspired a song.

The virus has the classification H1N1 because it includes two key viral proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Zielinski took the genetic sequence of a variant of hemagglutinin and created a computer algorithm to turn it into music.

Zielinski, 41, is not a biochemist or a professional musician -- he's a writer, photographer, computer programmer, and blogger who creates music in his spare time. But he's fascinated that, even though biologists can map the genome of the virus and predict what the hemagglutinin protein looks like, the human body still cannot distinguish it as the "bad guy" -- at least, not until there's a vaccine. Listen to the song

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Health/Medicine; Music/Entertainment; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: captaintripps; flu; influenza; mexiflu; music; pandemic; swindflu; swineflu
Cheers!
1 posted on 04/30/2009 3:53:30 AM PDT by grey_whiskers
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To: neverdem; SunkenCiv; snarks_when_bored; G8 Diplomat; Tax-chick
Strange *PING*...

and prayers UP!

2 posted on 04/30/2009 3:55:47 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers

Truly weird.


3 posted on 04/30/2009 4:12:40 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Stay out of Mexico. Wash your hands. Keep your pigs outdoors.)
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To: Tax-chick

Yes, it’s weird, and sometimes weirdly beautiful, sometimes weirdly boring...like sitting by a pond where primordial life begins.

What would other compositions sound like? More melodic? More “Gregorian”. I’ll bet plant genetic info is more Gregorian.


4 posted on 04/30/2009 5:06:50 AM PDT by bioqubit
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To: grey_whiskers; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...
includes two key viral proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Zielinski took the genetic sequence of a variant of hemagglutinin and created a computer algorithm to turn it into music.
He can star as the Professor in the remake of Gilligan's Island.

"Talk about joiners, ew!" -- Thurston Howell the Third
5 posted on 04/30/2009 8:22:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: grey_whiskers

>>to turn it into music.

Marty Robbins song parody sung by a listener yesterday on the Howie Carr show:

Down in the west Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl
She was contagious and gave me the swine flu
Twelve hours later, I started to hurl...


6 posted on 04/30/2009 8:36:55 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: grey_whiskers

7 posted on 04/30/2009 8:37:57 AM PDT by SparkyBass
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To: grey_whiskers

LOL! That’s a new one. One of the weirder articles in a while. Kinda cool though.


8 posted on 04/30/2009 8:45:50 AM PDT by G8 Diplomat (I'm learning Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, and Russian so someday you won't have to)
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