Michael

=**Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid- Have you heard of that??? how about DNA**=
 * DNA is the basis of life. DNA is located in the nuclues of eukaryotic cells and is coiled in a nucloid in prokaryotic cells. DNA contains a deoxyribose sugar molecule (deoxy ribose just means it has one less oxygen than ribose sugars) a phosphate backbone and a sequence of base pairs. Base pairs can be A C T or G. The order of these four letters determines the color of your hair, the sensitivity of your skin, the color of your eyes, and all of the bodily functions necessary for you to survive.**
 * It has been learned that A's pair with T's and C's pair with G's. The main reason a G and A for example cannot bind is because of the shape of their base pairs. Base pairs can either be purines (larger) or pyramines (smaller).**

As you can see in the picture above, purines are larger. Despite the ilusion that coiled DNA brings, the opposite sides of DNA are actually always the same distance away form each other when unwound. Therefore, logically it can be seen why an A and G cannot bind- it would be too wide, and why T and C cannot bind- it would be too narrow.

So how does a double strand of molecules lead to life. The answer is through transciption and translation. Below is a picture of transciption. Transciption converts DNA to RNA. RNA is different form DNA as it only has one stand instead of 2 (it is therefore not coiled) and it has a ribose sugar instead of a deoxyribose sugar. The RNA made leaves the nucleaus and translation begins.Below is a picture of translation.

Translation is the tranlation of RNA to protein. This process is a little more complicated. To learn the details of translation go to this link []. Here is a breif overview: The RNA goes to a ribosome and TRNA molecules contain anticodons, which carry the complement bases to the RNA. At the opposite side of the TRNA, there is an amino acid. The TRNAs come in one by one and eventually the amino acids join together to form a polypeptide chain and eventually a protein.

It is these proteins that control just about everything in the human body. Proteins determine hair color, and other characterisitcs and are essential to most of the bodies functions.

DNA is very important to leanr about. It can be used in so many different ways, such as curing deathly diseases. Juan emphasizes the importance of studying DNA in the following TED talk. []

DNa and diseases: overview [] Also, via cloning, DNA can be used to insert certain genes into foreign cells.

In addition to helping cure diseases, DNA can also be helpful in solving crimes. The following link focuses on DNA's use in forensic sciences. []