Since last summer the small town of Cuero, Texas has been the epicenter of one of the Internet’s favorite points of discussion: chupacabras. In July, a motorist plowed into a hairless purple-hued doglike creature that fits the rough physical description of what the southwest’s most beloved cryptid would actually look like, leaving many people to speculate—sometimes wildly—about the lineage of the unfortunate roadkill.
Phylis Canion, on whose property it expired, decided to find out just what the hell this creature was that, true to chupacabra legend, had been sucking the blood out of all her chickens. So in conjunction with a local news station, she sent DNA samples to Texas State University for further elaboration. The answer she received was far from earth-shattering. It belongs to the coyote family, quoth the lab.
Decorating my apartment was simple — there was already so much graffiti from the crack heads and crust punks who lived here before me that it pretty much took care of itself. Now I have the privilege of possessing an original "Nutinya" as well as a first-print "I did Skeez's mom fer monee" on my wall, complete with visual anatomical references. Both are very rare.
Once you've chosen your style and color set online, DNA 11 sends you a hyper-stylized "collection kit" with detailed instructions on how to collect your DNA sample that they will eventually use to extract your particular sequence. You then send them back the collection kit via a pre-addressed envelope, and art minions at DNA 11 "1. Extract your DNA and run it on a gel. 2. Capture a perfect, raw digital image from the gel. 3. Destroy your DNA sample," presumably so no gene thieves can make evil clones of you.
Then they digitally enhance and print your DNA artwork on a "high-quality canvas with our in-house Giclee printer," varnish, frame, provide a certificate of authenticity, and send your new piece of narcissistic artwork to you in a crush-proof package.
For the first time ever, scientists announced last week that they have finally successfully created an entire synthetic genome. Working diligently in the lab, scientists were able to stitch together the DNA of the smallest known free-living bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium. The research is hailed as a groundbreaking event in genetic manipulation that will one day lead to the "routine" creation of synthetic genomes—possibly including chromosomes in larger animals like mammals.
This accomplishment marks the next big step in creating entire synthetic life forms. The new work is the second step in a three-step process, said research leader Hamilton Smith, a biologist and Nobel laureate at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland.
The first step was reported last year also by the same team at Venter's institute, with the successful transplantation of a genome from one species of bacteria into another, which effectively switched the organism’s identity.
Wanna partner with a hot immune system? The Scientist has a bizarre interview with the founder of a new website promising-- for just under $2000-- to match you with the immunological sexpot of your dreams, using your DNA sequences for the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).
Matching by MHC isn’t as weird as it sounds-- people apparently find the body odors of those who have MHC alleles which are different from their own to be more attractive than those whose are similar and women, according to one study, have more orgasms with men who are different from them in this fashion.
So there's this project, and it's of potentially huge scientific importance.
It's a bold attempt to gather DNA sequences for 100,000 different individuals.
The implications could be huge -- eventually, it's data like this that will allow us to sort out the genetic underpinnings of diseases, intelligence and personality traits. Even trace the relatedness of everyone on Earth.
Participation is free, but not without risk.
At minimum, you'd have to be prepared to deal with the following worst-case scenarios, all of which could be carried out without your permission by malicious third parties:
Dogs, chimps, people, rats, mice and cows came first, but finally the finicky feline joins the club of mammals whose DNA has been decoded and sequenced. The breakthrough cat is a four-year-old Abyssinian named Cinnamon who lives in a lab-bred colony at University of Missouri-Columbia. No word on whether cans of tuna or catnip were used in luring Cinnamon down from her genomic pedestal, but as you can tell from the picture, she's way cuter than Dolly.
The now-decoded cat genome will provide insight into both human and feline diseases; as any cat lover knows, cats get hundreds of diseases that are similar to human counterparts, including HIV, leukemia and irritable bowel syndrome (believe it -- it ain't pretty).
A moment, please, for James Watson -- let's all pour a 40 in remembrance of his place as co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, Nobel laureate and his pushing the boundaries of genetics as chancellor of New York's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In an email, Watson addressed his cohorts thusly:
"Closer now to 80 than 79, the passing on of my remaining vestiges of leadership is more than overdue...the circumstances in which this transfer is occurring, however, are not those which I could ever have anticipated or desired.''
Circumstances? What circumstances?
Watson was quoted Oct. 14 in the Times of London saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.''
Dogs, chimps, people, rats, mice and cows came first, but finally the 
