Wednesday, March 07, 2007

6 Billion Bases

that's how many there are in each of your body's cells!

"If we were to print the one-letter symbols for these bases (A, G, C, and T) the size of the letters you are now reading [size 10], the 6 billion bases of information in a diploid human cell would fill about 1,200 books as thick as this text [1400 pages, 6 pounds]"

- Campbell/Reese Biology 7th Edition

Now can you imagine, 12 hundred books! 12 hundred books filled with the same 4 letters again and again and again and again! Good Lord! That's boring reading..
but can you imagine that all that is in one CELL in your body?

How can Chance explain that?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, at least there are four different letters to look at. Computers do everything in binary.

Anonymous said...

You get to read Campbell and Reece again? Sigh. I'm jealous.

...signing off because I realize how nerdy that just sounded.

-xoxo
M.

Did you get my e mail yesterday?