[PW] ? DNA question

[S M Colowick]

I think it's a bit premature to call out the firing squad (in any
sense of the term). All we have is a third-hand version of a story in
which we know that at least somebody in the chain was unclear about
the basic facts and terminology (e.g., "strands" vs. "lines", when it
was probably about chromosomes). It would surprise me if some other
basic facts had not been mangled in the transmission. It amazes me
that people so readily take as the unvarnished truth a library's
patron's story about an unseen sister's story about an unseen
professor. Some of these people, presumably, are seasoned librarians,
who should know Josel's first Reference Commandment: "The patron is
always wrong."

If I'm overreacting, blame it on the recent spate of vitriolic,
knee-jerk attacks on a presidential candidate who tried to illustrate
the importance of having a strong, principled, progressive chief
executive.

smc


On Jan 14, 2008 3:34 PM, Roger Post <roger_post at hotmail.com> wrote:
> The professor should be fired or at least shot.
>

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mary Barna" <mbarna at albright.org>
> To: "Project Wombat" <list at project-wombat.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 7:21 PM
> Subject: [PW] ? DNA question
>
>
> >A patron had a second-hand question that she would like clarification
> > on.  I will try to explain it to the best of my ability.  She said that
> > her sister, in a college class, had a DNA sample taken.  When the
> > results were in, the Professor made a crack in front of the class that
> > her DNA had one female strand and two male strands (or lines?) and she
> > should "go home and talk to your mother."  The kid was devastated, since
> > her parents divorced partly because her father was not sure if he was
> > her father. (He is!)
> >
> > The implication, that mom had sex with two guys that impregnated her one
> > egg, doesn't seem legit to me.  I have heard of fraternal twins having
> > different parents, but could this be a fact in this case?  It's an odd
> > question, I know.