How to extract DNA

June 2nd, 2007

It seems every man and his dog is barking on about DNA these days, from beauty products that claim to repair broken DNA to wolf criers who claim soda pop damages it. But what is DNA? What does it even look like? Well, over at the very excellent Science and Progress, kitchen-sink scientist Coracle has posted a DIY guide to extracting DNA from a humble lettuce. “But wait”, I hear you cry, “DNA is so small, I couldn’t possibly see it without a microscope”. Don’t be so sure - in under 15 minutes, with nothing but a few common household items, you too can extract a stringy mass of gooey white DNA! All that remains is to splice it with pig and tomato DNA and grow a one-stop sandwich filler plant!

For this reason, Coracle is the latest addition to the esteemed ranks of our Science Punks.

Entry Filed under: Science Punks

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