The Somewhat Ambitious

Ever wondered what Swine Flu would sound like if it were transcribed into music?

Yeah, I know. Me neither. But Stephan Zielinski has done so, seemingly unwilling to respect my unwillingness to be not oblivious about this thing and also the stuff*. Basically, Zielinski wrote code to translate the gene for swine flu into a piece of haunting ambient music.

He used an algorithm complex enough to make your eyes bleed, and since genes are expressed (apparently) as a surface protein antibodies can sense, “it’s considered as a string of amino acids. Each beat corresponds to one amino acid, and the piece is in 3/4 time, so each six measures would correspond to five turns around the alpha structure”. Here’s the raw code he came up with, in case you want to, I don’t know, put it up on your wall:

MKAILVVMLYTFATANADTLCIGYHANNSTDTVD
TVLEKNVTVTHSVNLLEDKHNGKLCKLRGVAPLHLGKCNIA
GWILGNPECESLSTASSWSYIVETSSSDNGTCYPGDFIDY
EELREQLSSVSSFERFEIFPKTSSWPNHDSNKGVTAACPHA
GAKSFYKNLIWLVKKGNSYPKLSKSYINDKGKEVLVLWGIH
HPSTSADQQSLYQNADAYVFVGSSRYSKKFKPEIAIRPKVR
DQEGRMNYYWTLVEPGDKITFEATGNLVVPRYAFAMERNAG
SGIIISDTPVHDCNTTCQTPKGAINTSLPFQNIHPITIGKCPK
YVKSTKLRLATGLRNVPSIQSRGLFGAIAGFIEGGWTG
MVDGWYGYHHQNEQGSGYAADLKSTQNAIDEITNKVNS
VIEKMNTQFTAVGKEFNHLEKRIENLNKKVDDGFLDIWTYNA
ELLVLLENERTLDYHDSNVKNLYEKVRSQLKNNAKEIGNG
CFEFYHKCDNTCMESVKNGTYDYPKYSEEAKLNREEID
GVKLESTRIYQILAIYSTVASSLVLVVSLGAISFWMCSNG
SLQCRICI

Part of me hopes that’s an anagram for something really, really horrific and conceptual, like a juice bar that flenses its customers whilst they wait. But part of me hopes this song isn’t somehow able to actually carry the swine flu and transmit it to people who listen. Which sounds far fetched, but it’s a scientifically proven fact that people who listen to Rhianna become vapid with 24 hours of exposure. Vapid, and really fucking boring.

/Paul

(Link via Boing Boing)

*This sentence has been shortlisted for the “Toshiba Stupidest Fucking Sentence Award” 2009. To vote, head across to the Toshiba website.