Movie Review: Gattaca

We watched this movie 'Gattaca' for research on our final major project, as its major focus was DNA/genetics. It helped me understand what a world, that took GM babies seriously, would be like. It showed how discrimination was a big part of this other world, because of genetic differences. Gattaca was all about being genetically different... being genetically superior. It shows a constant comparison with a genetically selective child and a child born of natures will and how one was able to achieve his dreams despite how the people around him judged because of his 'not so perfect' genetic traits.

The DNA Song | Inspiring?

THE DNA SONG! What an awesome find on youtube. Even though its basic information I know already, buts it's nice to listen to it in musical form! ''Hip Hip Hooray for DNA!'

watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnT_OuAYfvY

Font Idea | 'Mom + Dad = Me'

The basic idea of my font is to represent an offspring of 2 individual fonts, and that offspring has received traits from the 'Mum and Dad' font, like its observable traits, for example the way the serifs look and the height and weight of the font. I will be creating the parent fonts as well as the offspring font... hopefully what I'm trying to explain here doesn't confuse people so far. Earlier, I was also thinking this could give me a chance to look at how as well as body features, diseases are passed on by genes too and I could maybe incorporate that somehow in the font too, for example, I could have some sort of imagery on a letter representing something like heart disease or genetic abnormality.

Mendel's Laws of Heredity |

Written by Gregor Mendel in 1865, Mendel discovered that when you cross two different coloured plants, you don't get a blend of the two but instead the offspring is conceived with dominant factors like the colour, and recessive factors like its characteristics.

These 'factors' are our genes, though they occur in pairs in body cells, but segregate during the formation of sex cells and each member of the pair becomes part of the separate sex cell. The dominant gene hides the recessive gene. Mendel theorized that genes can be paired in three different ways for each trait: AA, aa and Aa( The capital 'A' represents the dominant gene and the lower case 'a' the recessive gene).

-'Mendel stated that each individual has two factors for each trait, one from each parent. The two factors may or may not contain the same information. If the two factors are identical, the individual is called homozygous for the trait. If the two factors have different information, the individual is called heterozygous. The alternative forms of a factor are called alleles. The genotype of an individual is made up of the many alleles it possesses. An individual's physical appearance, or phenotype, is determined by its alleles as well as by its environment. An individual possesses two alleles for each trait; one allele is given by the female parent and the other by the male parent. They are passed on when an individual matures and produces gametes: egg and sperm. When gametes form, the paired alleles separate randomly so that each gamete receives a copy of one of the two alleles. The presence of an allele doesn't promise that the trait will be expressed in the individual that possesses it. In heterozygous individuals the only allele that is expressed is the dominant. The recessive allele is present but its expression is hidden.'-

___________

This is sure to come in handy later for naming my font:

'In fertilization and breeding experiments (and especially when discussing Mendel's laws) the parents are referred to as the "P" generation and the offspring as the "F1" (first filial) generation. When the F1 offspring mate with each other, the offspring are called the "F2" (second filial) generation. One of the common diagrams used to predict the result of cross-breeding is the Punnett square.'

Typography Art by Oded Ezer...

Oded Ezer | Typosexual

This extraordinary typographer breaches the boundaries of typography through juxtaposing it with art and science. Ezer writes his own rules as an experimentalist with works of letters transformed into bizarre and mesmerizing shapes and designs from insects to cloned human sperm cells injected with typographic information into its DNA.

| Picture above showing Ezer's bizarre Typosperma |

Working from his studio in Israel, Ezer attempts to explore new fields as a pioneer for typography in a similar manner as graffiti and street artists are carving their way as a mainstream form of art and communication, with the world as an audience.

Ezer became obsessed with typoplastic surgeries and its possibilities, so he literally started attaching letters to his body and face. Another amazing concepts to hit typography is Ezer's Typosperma creation. Using biotechnological methods, Ezer creates a form of new transgenic living creatures which are half-human sperm and half-letter by implanting typographic information into the DNA of cloned sperm cells.

The Finger by Oded Ezer

Research | Just the beginning

I had a look around and found a couple of useful books and articles on the human genetics.

Books |

- Human Heredity: Principles and Issues | Michael Cummings

This book tackled the topic of how biotechnology is changing the way we look at the world today. Through the creation of transgenic organisms and the way that we look at ourselves with new genetic testing procedures and human genomics. In chapter 13, the books goes on showcase the recent developments in the field of genetic technology completion of the human genome. What's interesting is that Cummings incorporates this newly found knowledge and the resulting modern methods and technology.

- Forensic DNA Typing: Biology, Technology and Genetics | John M.. Butler

DNA typing is the modern, widely known method through which scientists in a court can use DNA samples like a fingerprint to catch a criminal or find a child's father. The book has lots of information about DNA typing and the issues connected with the technology. After having a look at the few relevant chapters in the book, it helped me understand modern DNA testing and the ways in which it has transformed criminal justice systems around the world.

- Genomes | T. A. Brown

After reading a section from this book about sequencing genomes, it helped me to understand a lot about genomes. Like distinguishing between the two methods used to sequence DNA, Chain termination method and the chemical degradation method. Features of automated DNA sequencing and the whole genome shotgun approach to genome sequencing(the h. influenza genome was sequenced entirely by the shotgun approach and without resource to any genetic or physical map info.).

- Genetics for Dummies | Tara Rodden Robinson

This taught me a lot about the basics of DNA, explaining Phenotypes, Genotypes, Dominant and Recessive traits and the Punnett square, which is a way to determine your parents genotypes and phenotypes for a certain trait. Also SNPs(Single Nucleotide Polymorphism), which is the variation in our cells which makes us different form people around the world!

Articles |

Chromosome Mutation

An interesting article about Chromosome mutation, which is a change... resulting in rearranged chromosome parts, abnormal numbers of individual chromosomes, which may lead to abnormalities in cell and organismal function.

Genes and Disease

Another informative article about genes and the diseases that they cause.

F.M.P Proposal | Decision time...

As our last year at college draws nearer, so does the inevitable final major project. The project is loosely based around the word DNA, and it is up to us to create something that's our personal representation of the theme.

Concept |

There are quite a few paths I could take, like tracing my ancestry, pursue my genetics (like how I came to be the way I am, stealing traits from my parents and their parents) or even touch subjects such as evolution and how it occurred. However, like I said in my earlier post about FMP ideas, I'm still sticking to the area of genetics and pursuing that as my spring board to launch into the project. My reason for choosing Genetics as a focus is because 1, I find it very interesting (inheriting traits from parents) 2, I don't want the project to be very personal to me but instead I want everyone to be able to relate to it somehow. I understand how people will look at DNA as something personal and a chance for them to explore one's background, but I wanted to take a step going some other way where my work actually projects some sort of connection with people. I want to look into inheritance of traits from our genes, as that is something everyone can relate to. The title for my project will come as I'm doing the project... too early to decide now.

Secondary Research |

I will be researching very deeply into this section, like the genome language, our genome sequencing, our phenotypes and genotype and more, making sure I have enough information to back up my work every step of the project. Since my research has to be thorough, I will have to check out some books about genetics, DNA and since I don't really remember much from my science class back in school, maybe I could have a look at 'Genetics for Dummies'. I will also be looking into articles about the topic online, that maybe expand my knowledge on the subject.

Primary Research |

I have already visited the Wellcome Exhibit in london , '8 rooms | 9 lives', as my primary source of research and I'm pleased that I have gathered a good amount of data from there, relevant to my project as there was a whole section on genome there(The Library of Human Genome in particular was my main interest there). I haven't a clue about any other places I can check out that inform people about DNA/Genetics, but I will have a look around Birmingham and see if such places are around.

Much Ado About Nothing | Final Deliverable

How I want to make my project come to be? It's quite simple actually, I just choose my strength or a field I am comfortable in and just pick that. I will be delivering this project through Typography. I am both comfortable with it and I have a great passion for it, so I will be doing my possible best to achieve the possible best out of this project. At the end, there will be a final A-Z(both upper and lowercases) completed with numbers and punctuation and possibly a whole completed font family. To present the font, there will definitely be 2 large posters to promote the font at the end of year show. I was also thinking about printed/digital booklets that were there in the show that included the font inside them(with info. about the font and how the idea for it came), so it could be something people could take away with them or have a look at home on their computers. One more thing! As I will be promoting the font, there is a possibility it will be up for free download, that is if it doesn't turn out to be a cryptic type font, so I will be providing or showing the link to where the font can be downloaded at the show. To create the font I could take a traditional approach, or I could create it digitally, which I already have sourced out sites like Fonstruct to help me out.

I will also be looking at a wide range of typographic artists to fuel my inspiration and ideas in this project. This will give me a chance to view different styles and experiments other artists hold in their work and maybe try that in my own.

Experimentation and Development |

As one of my opportunities, I have an unlimited range of materials to experiment with to make my project come to be. So I will be experimenting with everything and anything that I can use, that will include traditional materials like paint, card, plastic and digital techniques with software like photoshop and illustrator. I will be holding all of my development work in my sketchbook and some research will go in there too, but I will blog everything back to list my progress in the project.

The Deadlines! | The Money?

The only minor worry I have is the deadline for the project. The development is supposed to be finished by April 19, which restricts the amount of work I may produce at the end. But its not a big problem, I just need to work faster. Another worry is the budget, as I don't have a massive budget, the materials that I may want to experiment with might be hard to get a hold of, like software for computer and all the printing costs. I will find a way around that problem though, it's not something that holds anyone back to produce work.

Reflection on London trip...

From the trip to the Wellcome venue, I took a good amount of pictures to help me with my ideas for my F.M.P. I tired to take pictures that covered quite a few concepts on DNA, and not cornering just one topic. On the floor above from the 8 rooms was another exhibit to do with DNA.

There was a section about obesity, and this model above was what blew me away the most in that section. It was very disgusting to look at, with the over grown body and the red spots that covered it. It was titled, 'I can't help the way I feel', explaining that the '...work lies an interest in a possibility of the emotional landscape of the body becoming manifest in its surface.' The body acts as a metaphor of the way in which we become incapacitated by the emotional landscape in which we live and over which we have little control. By John Isaacs.

Different installments were added in the exhibition, including 3D sculptures to an animation about evolution, consisting of the stages of a monkey transforming into a man. This installment of a basic DNA structure was very interesting to look at, as it glowed with a florescent red light.

The Library of the Human Genome

These volumes contained a complete copy of the human genetic sequence and as you can see for yourself, that's a LOT of data. The text in the books was just made up of four letters. The letters represent the four chemical building blocks of DNA that make up the 'recipe' to build and operate a person. The DNA in every cell is spilt into pieces called chromosomes. These are numbered in size from 1 to 22, except the sex chromosomes, called X and Y. The sequence is a composite, sampled from a few people. If your DNA is compared with the 3000 million letters in the volumes, there will be about ten million differences!

Some pages in those volumes contain the letter 'n'. where the DNA has structures or sequences that make it impossible for modern tech. to read it properly, which means the full sequence hasn't even been decoded yet.

There was also information about cloning, where there was showcased some poop from Dolly the Sheep, and a big section on DNA testing. That was interesting and very education, as I learned how people can take a DNA sample of themselves and decode their DNA to tell them what their background consists of. We learned how DNA can be helpful in things like crime solving, and also being able to tell if two people are related or not by DNA comparison.

Coming towards the FMP...

DNA

Our Final Major Project was finally revealed to be based on the word DNA, and the focus of this project is our response to the word! I want to research in the area of genetics, as that gets me really interested in DNA, like how there is a separate language for genome consisting of just 4 letters! It's also amazing to know about your own heritage, like finding out that your not just a brown indian guy, but a mix of other backgrounds too!

I don't want to narrow my thinking down this early in the stage about what exactly I wanna do, but having a clear idea, which can be changed later is good enough for me right now.

I have been thinking about, in the area of genes, how things are passed on to generation from generation, like family illnesses to body features, I find it very intriguing, and its something anyone and everyone can relate to!