Sue Broom cracks the code in this subtle game of scientific one upmanship. Kakapo, Cleopatra and Pavarotti are cryptic names for genes; the clue to what they do lies in their names. Chardonay, Hedgehog and Cheap Dates all have one thing in common. They are all names for genes, specifically of fruit fly or drosophilia genes. The trick is you have to guess what it is, so for example Amontillado is a allusion to the Edgar Allan Poe book where the hero is walled in alive; the gene amontillado refers to mutant larvae who can’t hatch. More seriously, worm, mice and human geneticists think they should tone down their gene names. But Kathy and her colleagues are resisting; it is part of their tradition, they say. A witty, whimsical or colloquial name can get a scientist lot of attention in the scientific community. Sue Broom looks at some of the more famous examples and charts the resistance to turning Van Gogh into a chain of numbers and letters.
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Part 2: Naming And Branding | The Podcasting Project
Part 2: Naming And Branding On this episode I discuss a little about the importance of choosing a name and the branding around it. I mention Aaron Mahnke from Wet Frog Studios, check them…
http://www.thepodcastingproject.com/post/8483632202/part-2-naming-and-branding