Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Monster Rancher With DNA!

There was a PS/PS2 line of games that I thoroughly enjoyed playing. The series was called "Monster Rancher". The concept was that you inserted a CD or DVD into your system, and then based on some sort of algorithm, the game would make a "monster". Different CD's and DVD's produced different monsters.

Now, a company is launching a line of perfumes based on a celebrities genetic code.
Verdun makes clear that the recipes are secret formulas based on the genetic coding for mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which exists outside the nucleus of every cell and is passed down genetically only from the mother's side. There are a limited number of variations in mtDNA, and millions of people share the same variation. So if the fragrance called "Blue Suede" is based on Elvis Presley's genetic code, it could also be based on the code for Elvis Weisenheimer who lives down at the end of the street.
Yep, sounds like they'll take some sort of pattern from the DNA, run it through an algorithm and then the result will be used to formulate a perfume.

Big whoop.

2 comments:

soil mama said...

that's just dumb (the perfumes). maybe if the general public were more science literate then they wouldn't fall for crap like this.

Tom said...

Yep, the whole concept is dumb. But I bet some people buy it. Whether enough will buy it to keep the company in existence (in this day and age especially) remains to be seen.