JOURNAL CLUB: Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids
Martin Fenner
Friday, 14 March 2008 20:49 UTC
To get this forum started, I recommend this classic text
Watson JD, Crick FD. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids; a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 1953;171:737-8.
The full text can be found here. This text was written in a different era. But is still a wonderful example of clear writing – and British understatement.
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You know, I love the idea of looking at the really classic papers, that hadn’t even occurred to me. Hats off to you, sir.
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Hey, Samuel, I still can’t get over the groovy headwear. But seriously, for sure W&C is a classic, but it was also rather free from data, being propped up by the other papers (from Wilkins and so on) that accompanied it. Are those papers as lucid as W&C? And yes, it was from a different era, and that’s important, too. In those days, people were taught to write (and speak) properly, practices that were abandoned just a few years later as ‘elitist’ by a generation of left-wing cultural philistines. True story—when I did my 11-plus back in the early 1970s, I was marked down as ‘middle class’ for saying that ‘dinner’ happened in the evening rather than at lunchtime. I swear I am not making this up. That’s why I shall never, as long as I live, stand for political correctness, and were I not Jewish, I’d declare ceaseless global jihad against it [oooh, bit political that. Ed.] But as scientists and writers, that’s what we have to contend with nowdays. W&C had it easy.
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It makes an interesting contrast with the start of the following paper. One gets the impression that Watson and Crick actually care about communicating, rather than just wanting to put some facts down on paper, so everyone can admire them for having a Nature paper.
I think it emphasises one of the points that is often made about writing – keep it simple. Almost every sentence is direct and to the point.
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It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.
This is the last sentence of the paper. You just don’t find sentences like this – especially the first few words – in a paper published today.
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We at Nature have often wondered whether, were a writer to finish a paper with such a smart-alec sentence today, we’d just strike it out.
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We at Nature have often wondered whether, were a writer to finish a paper with such a smart-alec sentence today, we’d just strike it out.
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On the subject of Molecular Structure and Nucleic Acid, this reminds me of the following.
To quote from the late Peter Wildy (Cambridge Uni. 1985):-
The chemical state of the prion
Is the latest genetical try on
It’s flaccid and placid
No nucleic acid
Just protein it has to rely onApparently, Wildy pinned a note containing this text on the noticeboard of his lab the day that he left (resig.) the field as a sign to remaining staff of his defiance of the “Prion Only” theory…
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Hey Henry,
You definitely make a great point, and you got me thinking about how much real “data-heavy” papers make toward the advancement of knowledge as opposed to “synthesis” papers. Obviously both are necessary, and its certainly a lot easier to write well, or at least write accessibly, when presenting less technical information.
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It’s certainly a nice paper. However, I’m reluctant to hold it up as a pristine example of the art.
Just count the instances of the passive voice. W&C are at their best when describing their idea, and at their worst when describing experiments (maybe because they did no experiments?!).
They also use ‘novel’. Maybe, however, this paper actually warrants it :)
@Henry: On the other hand, I used to get funny looks from my peers for insisting that dinner is a cooked meal at 12 pippa emma.
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Gah. ‘pip’ emma of course. Heaven only know who this Pippa bird is.
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