Snakes on Skates

Johana Pošová & Barbora Fastrová and guest Martin Zvěřina.

Mythical moving snake
DNA is a master of transformation just like mobile snakes: it has created the air we breathe, the landscape we already see and the shocking number of diverse animals among which we belong. Over the course of four billion years, it has multiplied into a myriad of species, while remaining exactly the same. Inside the cell nucleus, DNA coils, twists and twists. Scientists often compare the shape and motion of this long molecule to the shape and motion of mobile snakes. Molecular biologist Casper Falling writes: “Two strands of DNA resemble two skate snakes wrapping around each other in a sophisticated courtship ritual. To sum it up, DNA is a master of mobile snake-like transformation, lives in water and is twofold – extremely long and at the same time extraordinarily small, simple and double, just like a snake on a skate.

Prequel of the BM series – COUPLES (2020)