Shining a laser through a light bulb can reveal the structure of DNA

2020-01-16

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Photo 51 is the famous image created by Rosalind Franklin and analysed by James Watson and Francis Crick. They used it to figure out the structure of DNA. It's an x-ray diffraction image. Meaning it's the diffraction pattern produced when you shine x-rays through DNA crystals. You can get almost the same pattern by shining laser light through the filament of an incandescent light bulb which shows the link between photo 51 and the helical structure of DNA.

The growing DNA crystal time lapses were created by Linden Gledhill. Find out more about his amazing work here:

http://www.lindengledhill.com/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13084997@N03/

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