Comments on: Protein Synthesis Explained via Interpretive Dance

Protein Synthesis Explained via Interpretive Dance

GenjiandProust — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:45:29 -0800

Have you ever wondered how to explain protein synthesis to your non-scientifically-inclined friends? Have you considered using interpretive dance? Thanks to the efforts of the Stanford University of 35 years ago, you can! Warning! May be too 70s for work...

By: ixohoxi

ixohoxi — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:53:59 -0800

Previously.

By: Elmore

Elmore — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:58:44 -0800

Yeah, amino acid, sure.

By: bicyclefish

bicyclefish — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:11:03 -0800

Just think... half-naked boomers are dancing inside you, playing the organ and bastardizing Lewis Carroll RIGHT THIS MINUTE!

By: benzenedream

benzenedream — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:14:40 -0800

Get a load of those gams on Initiator Factor Two!

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:29:35 -0800

Heh, I misread "peptide bond" for "petite blond". Also, I'd synthesize it, et cetera.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:29:55 -0800

Of course, first you have to explain interpretive dance...

By: bicyclefish

bicyclefish — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:32:02 -0800

...with the help of a cell diagram?

By: the aloha

the aloha — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:39:54 -0800

genjiand proust, if i could give multiple favorites i would do so without hesitation. too bad i wasn't around for the summer semester of love. in any event, i absolutely love the aesthetic qualities of educational films of the 70's. similar to the design of the textbooks of the time there is no fear of doing anything wrong because we are all free on this new day now, students tend to be themselves on film, and there was the restriction of only using the analog materials of the time. Get a load of those gams on Initiator Factor Two! dude, check out the protein releasing factor's gams and vorpal arms.

By: Jody Tresidder

Jody Tresidder — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:59:03 -0800

Heh, I misread "peptide bond" for "petite blond". The late Francis "DNA" Crick would have approved, Burhanistan! He once wrote that the nucleic acids are: "the dumb blonds of the biomolecular world, fit mainly for reproduction (with a little help from the proteins) but of little use for much of the really demanding work."

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:02:02 -0800

"to avoid the flaccid amino acids" K, this is a really great FPP.

By: pombe

pombe — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:36:23 -0800

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted before. It's kind of a classic in biology - I remember seeing it in my freshman bio class and being very amused. Here's a short video of synchronized swimming mitosis, for more biology entertainment.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:46:23 -0800

HAIR for protein synthesis with the Jabberwocky mixed in. YAY happy science geek fun!

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:08:36 -0800

I was fortunate enough to attend a screening a few years ago with the creators, Robert Alan Weiss and his wife (I forgot her name) who choreagraphed the dancing. Not too atypically for dancers, she still looks great, and 15+ years younger than her age. Charming people, and dance is just about as good as CGI as far as I'm concerned for explaining things.

By: flaterik

flaterik — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:34:08 -0800

I remember seeing this in my high school biology class. I am only 29.

By: Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:45:16 -0800

Listen here, sonny...

By: Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:47:55 -0800

That said, it's worth watching again, for those who missed it.

By: total warfare frown

total warfare frown — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:19:12 -0800

Heh, I misread "peptide bond" for "petite blond". Isn't "Peptide Blonde" an INXS song?

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:29:20 -0800

For those of you wondering, they don't start dancing until about three and a half minutes in and it doesn't start rocking until the Initiator Factor One shows up at 5:10.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:29:58 -0800

Metafilter: it doesn't start rocking until the Initiator Factor One shows up

By: Faze

Faze — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:06:37 -0800

This is not so much the 1970s, as it is the decaying particles of the late 1960s, and -- oh -- the girls! It's a wonder any of us could concentrate on anything else long enough to become the next generation of molecular biologists, cardiologists, surgeons, etc.

By: heyforfour

heyforfour — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:40:45 -0800

I too watched this in high school bio, in 2002. It was glorious.

By: Herodios

Herodios — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:18:33 -0800

I'd offer my review but as we all know, writing about film is like dancing about amino acids.

By: Herodios

Herodios — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:23:18 -0800

. . . right, so after carefully scanning the thread to see if anyone already cracked that joke, I wait until after posting to check the previously link. Oh well. . .