Read Online The Genesis Code by Christopher Forrest - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Forrest
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wrinkled shirt.
“Interesting, is it not? A few years back, there was one paper published by a pair of geneticists from Japan. As I recall, it wasn’t well regarded by the mainstream scientific community. These Japanese scientists claimed that their measurements clearly revealed the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio in the structure of human DNA.”
“You’ve lost me again. The Fibonacci sequence? The Golden Ratio?”
“Not given to mathematics, are we? These are mathematical concepts. There’s an easy way to explain the Fibonacci sequence. Start making a list of numbers. The first two numbers on your list are zero and one.”
“Okay,” said Flavia, jotting numbers on her pad.
“Now add a third number to your list by adding the first and second numbers together.”
“Okay. Zero plus one equals one.”
“Now make a fourth number by adding the second and third numbers in your list. Keep doing this, over and over.”
Flavia stopped writing.
“The series that you get is zero, one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, and so on. Mathematicians call this the Fibonacci sequence. And if you divide any number in the Fibonacci sequence by the one before it, the answer is always close to 1.61803.”
“What’s so special about that?”
“The relationship between successive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, 1.61803, is called the Golden Ratio. It’s also called phi. You can find the Golden Ratio in nature, art, and music.”
“I don’t get it. How?”
“It’s a puzzle, is it not? The Golden Ratio shows up in nature in the arrangements of leaves on plants, patterns in the growth of crystals, graphs of animal populations, critical values of spinning black holes, and the shapes of pine trees and chicken eggs.”
Ebersole logged on to the Internet. He typed as he talked.
“Where else do we see it? Many places. Claude Debussy used phi in his music, and Le Corbusier employed it in his architecture. Leonardo da Vinci used the Golden Ratio when he painted the Mona Lisa, and the Greeks used it when they built the Parthenon.”
Flavia consulted her notes. “And these Japanese geneticists found the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio in DNA?”
“Here it is,” he said, reading from the computer screen. “What did they find? According to their calculations, human DNA measures thirty-four angstroms long by twenty-one angstroms wide for each full cycle of the double helix spiral. Thirty-four and twenty-one are numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, and their ratio is 1.618, the Golden Ratio.”
Ebersole smiled. “Remarkable, yes?
“But like I said, no one seemed to take much notice. And that was years ago. For at least the last five years, no one has made any progress on introns.”
Flavia thought for a moment. “What if I told you that one of the keynote speeches at this year’s International Biogenetics Conference was going to be about introns?”
“Who’s the speaker?”
“There are two copresenters listed on the agenda. Dr. Grace Nguyen and Dr. Joshua Ambergris, both from Triad Genomics.”
“I don’t know Nguyen,” said Ebersole. “But what do I know about Ambergris? He’s a heavy hitter. He won a Nobel Prize for his work on the Human Genome Project.”
Ebersole smoothed the wispy goatee on his chin.
“The International Biogenetics Conference is like the Super Bowl for geneticists. If Dr. Ambergris is giving a big presentation on introns, I’d wager that he plans to announce a major discovery. What do I think? I think you may have a big story here.”
Twenty
Dr. Christian Madison’s Office
34th Floor, Millennium Tower
Manhattan, New York
When Madison returned to his office, Grace was waiting inside.
“Grace?”
She turned to face him. Her eyes were red from crying.
“I thought security escorted you to your office. How did you get back in here?” asked Madison.
“Quiz. I called him and asked. He worked some magic to override the security lock on your door.”
Her
“Interesting, is it not? A few years back, there was one paper published by a pair of geneticists from Japan. As I recall, it wasn’t well regarded by the mainstream scientific community. These Japanese scientists claimed that their measurements clearly revealed the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio in the structure of human DNA.”
“You’ve lost me again. The Fibonacci sequence? The Golden Ratio?”
“Not given to mathematics, are we? These are mathematical concepts. There’s an easy way to explain the Fibonacci sequence. Start making a list of numbers. The first two numbers on your list are zero and one.”
“Okay,” said Flavia, jotting numbers on her pad.
“Now add a third number to your list by adding the first and second numbers together.”
“Okay. Zero plus one equals one.”
“Now make a fourth number by adding the second and third numbers in your list. Keep doing this, over and over.”
Flavia stopped writing.
“The series that you get is zero, one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, and so on. Mathematicians call this the Fibonacci sequence. And if you divide any number in the Fibonacci sequence by the one before it, the answer is always close to 1.61803.”
“What’s so special about that?”
“The relationship between successive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, 1.61803, is called the Golden Ratio. It’s also called phi. You can find the Golden Ratio in nature, art, and music.”
“I don’t get it. How?”
“It’s a puzzle, is it not? The Golden Ratio shows up in nature in the arrangements of leaves on plants, patterns in the growth of crystals, graphs of animal populations, critical values of spinning black holes, and the shapes of pine trees and chicken eggs.”
Ebersole logged on to the Internet. He typed as he talked.
“Where else do we see it? Many places. Claude Debussy used phi in his music, and Le Corbusier employed it in his architecture. Leonardo da Vinci used the Golden Ratio when he painted the Mona Lisa, and the Greeks used it when they built the Parthenon.”
Flavia consulted her notes. “And these Japanese geneticists found the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio in DNA?”
“Here it is,” he said, reading from the computer screen. “What did they find? According to their calculations, human DNA measures thirty-four angstroms long by twenty-one angstroms wide for each full cycle of the double helix spiral. Thirty-four and twenty-one are numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, and their ratio is 1.618, the Golden Ratio.”
Ebersole smiled. “Remarkable, yes?
“But like I said, no one seemed to take much notice. And that was years ago. For at least the last five years, no one has made any progress on introns.”
Flavia thought for a moment. “What if I told you that one of the keynote speeches at this year’s International Biogenetics Conference was going to be about introns?”
“Who’s the speaker?”
“There are two copresenters listed on the agenda. Dr. Grace Nguyen and Dr. Joshua Ambergris, both from Triad Genomics.”
“I don’t know Nguyen,” said Ebersole. “But what do I know about Ambergris? He’s a heavy hitter. He won a Nobel Prize for his work on the Human Genome Project.”
Ebersole smoothed the wispy goatee on his chin.
“The International Biogenetics Conference is like the Super Bowl for geneticists. If Dr. Ambergris is giving a big presentation on introns, I’d wager that he plans to announce a major discovery. What do I think? I think you may have a big story here.”
Twenty
Dr. Christian Madison’s Office
34th Floor, Millennium Tower
Manhattan, New York
When Madison returned to his office, Grace was waiting inside.
“Grace?”
She turned to face him. Her eyes were red from crying.
“I thought security escorted you to your office. How did you get back in here?” asked Madison.
“Quiz. I called him and asked. He worked some magic to override the security lock on your door.”
Her
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