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Thursday, 15 August 2013

Ever wondered what your DNA sounds like?

A group of experimental science fans including UWA's Gary Cass have created an App that converts your unique genetic code into musical notes.

Using their iDNAtity scanner ­- along with some simple questions about your physical characteristics - you can create music from your genes. Here 's how it works.

Gary, a scientific technician in the School of Earth and Environment, is dedicated to enthusing and informing teenagers about science, to encourage them to study science after leaving school.

He and his collaborators have worked with a New Zealand company, MEA Mobile, to produce an interactive musical App based on the science of DNA that will excite and inspire creative minds.  It is available from the Apple store.

"Over the last few decades there has been a significant decline in the number of high school students enrolling in science," Gary said.

"This is a serious concern for the future of the Australian society and economic growth into the 21st century. Recognised as a leading country in innovation, Australia needs to attract today's youth back into the sciences, and I am sure this sentiment is echoed around the world.

"Creativity in today's society is becoming as important as numeracy and literacy.

Gary has worked with students from Shenton College through UWA's Learning Links program.

"Teachers hold the key," he said. "They are the ones who ultimately excite and inspire our youth by encouraging imagination and originality in the science class. iDNAtity audio is one of the tools that educators can use to engage their science students."

With the App, you can create personalised DNA music that is unique to your identity, choosing from a wide variety of instruments to ‘play your DNA'.

The DeoxyriboNucleic Acid (DNA) molecule contains everybody's hereditary material and is the blue-print for all life. DNA is found within every living cell, wrapped up into chromosomes and comprising the genes that give us all of our physical features. The information is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).

These codes are transformed into musical notes by answering simple questions such as what colour hair and eyes you have, to create an original pattern of codes - or musical sequence.

Gary (who made headlines worldwide several years ago with the creation of a dress made of wine) and his colleagues call themselves the Crazy Scientists .

"This app is 100 per cent safe to use," they say. "Our crazy scientists will not extract your DNA or store any data created within the App."

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