From:    David Bloomberg
To:      All                                    Msg #174, 94-02-10 22:%:58
Subject: Good Songs

The following are letters from a recent issue of SCIENCE (didn't copy the page
with the date on it).  They are apparently in response to an earlier article,
but I didn't catch that one:

    Hallelujah!  I have been saying for years that the reason creationists can
win the allegiance of some of the general public is that all we scientists do
is present evidence, but creationists go after the heart and soul.  In the
words of Tom Lehrer, "They have all the good songs."
    Now Alexander Volokh (Random Samples, 3 Dec., p. 1511) has opened the door
to _evolution_ songs!  At last, something to supplement "It's a Long Way from
Amphioxus!"  Will everyone who has an evolution song please write me?  I mean,
it's hard to imagine us sitting around the crackling fire singing songs about
Sewell Wright, but maybe there is _something_ we can to do raise our espirit
de corps.  I tell you, it's tough out here in the trenches where 49% of
American adults think man was created in his present form 10,000 years ago.

                                                Eugenie C. Scott
                                                Executive Director,
                        National Center for Science Education, Inc.
                                                1328 6th Street,
                                                Berkeley, CA 94710-1404


I enjoyed the paleontological ditty written by Alexander Volokh.  It
reminded me of a similar composition, "These Are a Few of Our Favorite Genes,"
written by two of our field personnel, Sarah Bliven and Steve Robinson, after
a recent molecular genetics training class.  Interestingly, it is also sung to
the tune of "My Favorite Things" from _The Sound of Music_.

Plasmids and cosmids and phages and vectors,
Introns and exons that split into sectors
Phenotype changes in Mendel's green beans--
These are a few of our favorite genes!

Northerns and southerns and chromosome walking
Clone our dead grandma (she's no longer talking),
Store her forever in just one test tube,
Primer extension is what we will do!

Oh we'll splice her,
And we'll screen her,
Amplify her too.
So if you want grandma
(Your very own grandma),
Then we will clone one
For you!

Probin for DNA polymorphisms,
DNA ligase to fill in those schisms,
Plotting a cot curve to see what it means,
This is called fun with mammalian genes!

                                            Edward F. Hawkins
                                            Beckman Instruments, Inc.
                                            2500 Harbor Boulevard,
                                            Fullerton, CA 92634-3100