Protein Synthesis Explained via Interpretive Dance

June 4, 2009 9:45 AM

Have you ever wondered how to explain protein synthesis to your non-scientifically-inclined friends? Have you considered using interpretive dance? Thanks to the efforts of the Stanford University of 35 years ago, you can! Warning! May be too 70s for work...
posted by GenjiandProust (22 comments total)

Previously.
posted by ixohoxi at 9:53 AM on June 4, 2009

Yeah, amino acid, sure.
posted by Elmore at 9:58 AM on June 4, 2009 [3 favorites]

Just think... half-naked boomers are dancing inside you, playing the organ and bastardizing Lewis Carroll RIGHT THIS MINUTE!
posted by bicyclefish at 10:11 AM on June 4, 2009

Get a load of those gams on Initiator Factor Two!
posted by benzenedream at 10:14 AM on June 4, 2009

Of course, first you have to explain interpretive dance...
posted by Thorzdad at 10:29 AM on June 4, 2009

...with the help of a cell diagram?
posted by bicyclefish at 10:32 AM on June 4, 2009

genjiand proust, if i could give multiple favorites i would do so without hesitation.

too bad i wasn't around for the summer semester of love.
in any event, i absolutely love the aesthetic qualities of educational films of the 70's. similar to the design of the textbooks of the time there is no fear of doing anything wrong because we are all free on this new day now, students tend to be themselves on film, and there was the restriction of only using the analog materials of the time.

Get a load of those gams on Initiator Factor Two!
dude, check out the protein releasing factor's gams and vorpal arms.
posted by the aloha at 10:39 AM on June 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Heh, I misread "peptide bond" for "petite blond".

The late Francis "DNA" Crick would have approved, Burhanistan!

He once wrote that the nucleic acids are: “the dumb blonds of the biomolecular world, fit mainly for reproduction (with a little help from the proteins) but of little use for much of the really demanding work.”
posted by Jody Tresidder at 10:59 AM on June 4, 2009

"to avoid the flaccid amino acids"

K, this is a really great FPP.
posted by bardic at 11:02 AM on June 4, 2009

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted before. It's kind of a classic in biology - I remember seeing it in my freshman bio class and being very amused.

Here's a short video of synchronized swimming mitosis, for more biology entertainment.
posted by pombe at 11:36 AM on June 4, 2009

HAIR for protein synthesis with the Jabberwocky mixed in. YAY happy science geek fun!
posted by nickyskye at 11:46 AM on June 4, 2009

I was fortunate enough to attend a screening a few years ago with the creators, Robert Alan Weiss and his wife (I forgot her name) who choreagraphed the dancing. Not too atypically for dancers, she still looks great, and 15+ years younger than her age. Charming people, and dance is just about as good as CGI as far as I'm concerned for explaining things.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:08 PM on June 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I remember seeing this in my high school biology class.

I am only 29.
posted by flaterik at 12:34 PM on June 4, 2009

Listen here, sonny...
posted by Turtles all the way down at 12:45 PM on June 4, 2009

That said, it's worth watching again, for those who missed it.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 12:47 PM on June 4, 2009

Heh, I misread "peptide bond" for "petite blond".

Isn't "Peptide Blonde" an INXS song?
posted by total warfare frown at 1:19 PM on June 4, 2009

For those of you wondering, they don't start dancing until about three and a half minutes in and it doesn't start rocking until the Initiator Factor One shows up at 5:10.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:29 PM on June 4, 2009

Metafilter: it doesn't start rocking until the Initiator Factor One shows up
posted by P.o.B. at 2:29 PM on June 4, 2009

This is not so much the 1970s, as it is the decaying particles of the late 1960s, and -- oh -- the girls! It's a wonder any of us could concentrate on anything else long enough to become the next generation of molecular biologists, cardiologists, surgeons, etc.
posted by Faze at 4:06 PM on June 4, 2009

I too watched this in high school bio, in 2002. It was glorious.
posted by heyforfour at 4:40 PM on June 4, 2009

I'd offer my review but as we all know,

writing about film is like dancing about amino acids.
posted by Herodios at 9:18 PM on June 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

. . . right, so after carefully scanning the thread to see if anyone already cracked that joke, I wait until after posting to check the previously link. Oh well. . .
posted by Herodios at 9:23 PM on June 4, 2009