We talk about molecular population and evolutionary GENETICS and GENOMICS. You know, the caliper measurement of a gene's evolvability in moles.Today marks the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick -- the dude who ridded Ireland of its non-existent snakes (some folks claim it was a metaphor for pagans). In honor of this great feat, people around the world drink green beer and pretend to be Irish. What does that have to do with double entendres? Absolutely nothing, but it's my excuse for the following lame joke:
Two transcription factors are hanging out. One says to the other, "Did you end up scoring with that cis regulatory region you were macking on last night?" The other replies, "Yeah, I gave her the old zinc finger."
Comments
Huh. Green beer at the Gaff. Don't think I'll head anywhere in downtown State College tonight while I value my life.
Posted by: Gretchen | March 17, 2006 4:30 PM
That joke is terrible! Don't think I don't get it, 'cause my B.Sc. in biochemistry says otherwise, but, damn that's bad...
Posted by: Louis | March 20, 2006 9:33 PM
It's not particularly a metaphor because they weren't comparing the druids to snakes for some sort of trait. Rather, druid leaders perportedly had snake tattoos so the term came from that. Of course, that simply leaves one to wonder why the local druids would have snake tattoos when there weren't any snakes around. I don't know enough about the population movements there to propose a connection, but the tattoo thing is interesting so I wanted to share.
Posted by: BrassyDel | March 31, 2006 12:35 PM