Tuesday, October 23, 2007

cameo

The genome sequencing pioneer Craig Venter apparently went out to make an artificial bug, piecing genes together in the lab and stuffing them into a lipid shell. The synthetic bacterium will be called Mycobacterium laboratorium. I haven't read much about this and don't want to comment. Despite this, the story deserves a post because Channel 4 interviewed Venter the other day and showed a little piece on the evening news.

How is this relevant? And how do I know this, deprived as I am of a TV? Well, Venter was interviewed because he is giving a talk at Imperial tonight, and the TV crew came to the College to get some local voices to contribute thoughts. No, they didn't ask me, they interviewed my boss, but I managed a fleeting cameo appearance in the final clip (see minute 1:15). Fame and fortune are surely not far off now.

2 comments:

Dee said...

awesome
is that you working REALLY hard in the background?
that was the best part of the entire thing.

Andreas Förster said...

Everyone else was awed into complete motionlessness - or just watched and didn't move for whatever reason. After making sure I wouldn't be in full view or exposed to the bright lights of fame, I started walking in and out the field of vision of the camera, going about my business.