LEGO Science!

If you were a reader before I hibernated, you know that I enjoy the science writing of the German physicist Sabine Hossenfelder. While I was sleeping, Dr. Hossenfelder added a newsletter with regular videos, a Patreon page and, as I discovered in a recent newsletter, a podcast as well as a second book.

In last week's newsletter, Dr. Hossenfelder picked up an item about biophysicists at the University of Arizona who needed what's called a "gradient mixer" to help purify something called DNA nanostructures. If you remember your high school science (or X-men movies) you might recall that DNA is a double-helix shape of protein molecules -- a twisty ladder. Scientists assemble these arrangements into larger shapes called nanostructures. The nanostructures can be made to carry information, leading to the possibility of biological computer processing. As well as a bunch of other things I am nowhere near understanding.

Anyway, to purify the structure, the biological material must be rotated in a "gradient mixer." Such mixers can be made of finely-tuned expensive parts. Or they can, as the team at Arizona learned, be made from LEGOs for much much less. I confess I find myself less fascinated by the science involved and much, much more interested in the way LEGO parts make up the equipment.

I'll keep my shoes on if walking around the lab in the dark, though. Stepping on those is still painful, even if they're being used for science.