Triple-stranded DNA

Between classes today I was talking with some people about what I had just written, mostly zombies, and we started talking about other ways the world might end. Joe brought up triple-stranded DNA, and how that could be pretty crazy.

Triple-stranded DNA has a wikipedia page, but there were very few words there that I understood. And anyway, it’s more fun to speculate about it without being constrained by what is actually scientifically possible.

So if scientists figure out how this all works, what could they do? I have nothing to back this up, but I’m pretty sure they could make some pretty crazy animals. With an extra strand of DNA, they could probably give these alien animals like superpowers or something. They could probably figure out how to throw like telekinesis or something weird like that onto the third strand. I don’t know if they would have to make entirely new animals to take advantage of this, or if they could take a current animal’s DNA, add another helix full of special powers, and create like a super giraffe. That would be sweet.

But I think that the greatest potential here is if scientists start giving a third helix to human DNA. If they start doing this, I would volunteer to have my DNA amplified. I’m sure there would be risks all over the place, but the rewards would totally balance it out. Like, what if a third DNA strand gives me superpowers like the Force? That would be incredible, even if I didn’t get a lightsaber too. Though if it were available, I would want a lightsaber as well.

I think the key here, and, again, no science supports this belief, is nanotechnology. We need to make these little robots, because that’s probably the best way to graft a third strand onto all of my DNA. Imagine if it were that simple. Like, you just swallow a couple of nanobot pills, and they go through your body like a molecular black ops team amplifying your DNA. And then like twenty minutes later you can move things with your mind and baffle stormtroopers. Who wouldn’t want to do this?

Seriously, science is pretty much the coolest; there are so many possibilities for weird shit that they can do, and I really want to see something crazy happen.