Ahem, ahem...

(mike test, mike test...)

Friends, students, countrymen,
Lend me your screens!

hi everyone, welcome to palindromes. it's *technically* my first time to blog. tried it once before, posted a single blog post, and subsequently lost my blog address to cyberspace. this time, though, i'm serious. why? because i blog for a good reason. catch this:

i blog for a cause!

so what is my motivation?

basically it is all about coming out in the open. establishing a personality. becoming known. expounding on the theme "who is sol hidalgo and what is she doing?" you see, it's my very first time to teach ala DE mode. DE meaning distance education. Distance meaning far away. Far away meaning we don't see each other, bump each other in the corridors, or the canteen, or the labs, or the library. In other words, my students don't know me, or at least the personal side of me, and would have very little chance to, unless i make the effort to expose it. So expose myself I shall, in palindromes.

So why is this site called palindromes? palindromes are words or phrases that, when you cut it in the middle, the right side of the word reflects the left. words like racecar or rotor are palindromes, or phrases like I DID, DID I? a cool link to the history of palindromes is http://www.fun-with-words.com/palin_explain.html.

palindromes are also present in molecular biology, particularly in DNA sequences. SHort palindromic segments are particularly useful for molecular biologists, because these are what they look for in their cut-and-paste experiements using bacterial enzymes (a.k.a. DNA cloning). Example of DNA palindromes:
5’-GGATCC-3’
3’-CCTAGG-5’
Why do the occur? Random chance
Why do Bacteria cut there? Nobody knows

Longer palindromic DNA segments have this unique ability to form hairpin loops, where a strand of the double helix separates from its partner and folds in on itself, because the ends are capable of pairing. When both strands of the double helix form hairpin loops, the DNA will adopt a cross-like structure. Now this phenomenon is important in many ways, because this cruciform tends to stick out and announce itself. It is like a stopover after a really long stretch of road, shows you where you are, allows you to stretch, sit back, and relax.

Now these palindromes have also been associated with colon and breast tumors. similarly, i hope that this palindrome (the blog) will also fire your imagination and make you want to blog too.

So, like palindromes, i hope this one would be fun, reflective, and infectious! see you around...