Tag Archives: DNA

Little Mix Touches Down In The United States

In England back in 2011, for the first time ever, an all girl group won the eighth series of The X-Factor. The group, Little Mix, consisted of 4 girls: Jesy Nelson (21), Leigh-Anne Pinnock (21), Jade Thirlwall (20), and Perrie Edwards (19). They were formed after originally auditioning as solo artists. And now, after releasing their first album, DNA, in their home country of England, the girls decided to try their luck in the United States.

  On March 15, 2013, Jesy, Leigh-Anne, Jade, and Perrie landed in New York City. According to the girls themselves, this was their first time in the United States as a band. In the big apple, they got to meet fans and visit radio stations and tell about their plans to release their album, DNA, in the U.S. on May 28, 2013. The girls spent St. Patrick’s Day in Boston, Massachusetts meeting fans (otherwise know as “mixers”)  and handing out cupcakes (read more about their Boston trip here.)  And, on March 18th the girls visited Connecticut’s own Kiss 95.7, where eight lucky “mixers” got to watch the girls perform and talk with them one on one. Infact, I myself happened to be one of those lucky “mixers” (see picture above.) The girls then went back to Boston later that day, and are now headed back to the city of lights.

~Anna Finkle

Delving into DNA Discoveries

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One week ago, if you asked a scientist how our DNA works, they might’ve said that 98% of it is inactive, or “junk.” The other 2% contains our genomes, which contain the blueprints of who we are. This past Wednesday, however, some 500 scientists published new research indicating that at least 80% of our DNA is active; a startling contrast that is already rewriting textbooks everywhere.

What is DNA? DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic acid, is the road map for our bodies. It’s kind of like a control board, similar to a long series of switches flicking on and off. DNA consists of 4 chemical bases; adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). The order of the series of 3,000,000 units of these 4 chemicals is what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, or simply the person next to you. Every cell in your body contains the same strand of DNA, usually located in the nucleus of each cell.

Personally, I think this is a remarkable discovery. Part of what was discovered through this research was how disease works and what’s going on to cause it. Now, I’m not talking about the common cold or a virus. I’m talking about some of the leading killers in our country; heart disease, diabetes, even cancer. While no one is sure when this new information will turn into treatments and even cures, one thing everyone is sure of is that this is a remarkable discovery in the world of science everywhere.

~Claire Stover