"mistake" On Pelikan Expo 2000 Humankind

[learningsquare]

As a (quantitative) biologist in training, I find particularly special the famous Pelikan Expo 2000 pens, which depict (bottom to top) a DNA double helix, ammonite fossils, and a printed circuit board. I knew I always wanted the set but could never find one for a good price price until this week.

 

Shortly after unboxing, however, I was in for a surprise. I had seen plenty of photos before, but it was only after I held the Humankind (red) pen in my hand for the first time that I took a closer look at the double helix and noticed that something was a bit off.

 

 

Stumped? Well, DNA as it exists in our cells under normal conditions has a right-handed orientation; that is, if you grab the backbone of the helix with your right hand and traverse one of the strands with your four fingers, your hand and thumb move upward. What Pelikan has depicted, unfortunately, is a left-handed molecule. The double helix engraved on the Expo 2000 Humankind pen is the incorrect mirror image!

 

http://web.uconn.edu/mcb201/F04-05.JPG

 

I find, actually, that Pelikan's scientific faux pas adds to the charm of the Expo 2000 set. The mistake is a fun fact but perhaps not all that consequential. You'd think that someone would have

 

Case in point: Don't forget to check the handedness of your helices!

[hombreverde]

As a (quantitative) biologist in training, I find particularly special the famous Pelikan Expo 2000 pens, which depict (bottom to top) a DNA double helix, ammonite fossils, and a printed circuit board. I knew I always wanted the set but could never find one for a good price price until this week.

 

Shortly after unboxing, however, I was in for a surprise. I had seen plenty of photos before, but it was only after I held the Humankind (red) pen in my hand for the first time that I took a closer look at the double helix and noticed that something was a bit off.

 

 

Stumped? Well, DNA as it exists in our cells under normal conditions has a right-handed orientation; that is, if you grab the backbone of the helix with your right hand and traverse one of the strands with your four fingers, your hand and thumb move upward. What Pelikan has depicted, unfortunately, is a left-handed molecule. The double helix engraved on the Expo 2000 Humankind pen is the incorrect mirror image!

 

http://web.uconn.edu/mcb201/F04-05.JPG

 

I find, actually, that Pelikan's scientific faux pas adds to the charm of the Expo 2000 set. The mistake is a fun fact but perhaps not all that consequential. You'd think that someone would have

 

Case in point: Don't forget to check the handedness of your helices!

Nice catch.

[KaB]

[zaddick]

Pelikan apparently also put non-sensical hieroglyphics on their evolution of script. I get the sense their design team does limited fact checking.

 

Thanks for sharing your find.

[rafapa]

Do the ammonite fossils have the right quirality?

[mirosc]

cute! that's the right pen for left handed writers

[Ursus]

I don't think that a single one of my biochemistry professors ever managed to get through a single lecture on DNA or RNA without showing a picture with an error in it. They had copied those pictures from who knows where and put them in their presentations without checking them properly, and when I pointed it out to them after the lectures or during an intermission, they would always check it out and say "Gee, you're right! How on earth did that get there?". No one else ever noticed. After all, there are a million different ways to make errors in such pictures and there are just too few perfectionists in this world. At least it gave a well prepared student something to do during the lectures.

[sargetalon]

Congrats on the set and thanks for sharing your findings! Neat fun fact.

[wascallyrabbit]

i've haven't seen the set before they are quite nice.

[jmccarty3]

This happens all too often, and just makes me more appreciative when I come across the rare example of someone who took the trouble to do things right in spite of knowing that very few would notice.

[DrCodfish]

ytfeL ereh. toN ot ekam sesucxe, tub I nac dnatsrednu woh hcus a ekatsim dluoc eb edam.

 

rD hsifdoC

Edited February 13, 2016 by DrCodfish

[sargetalon]

ytfeL ereh. toN ot ekam sesucxe, tub I nac dnatsrednu woh hcus a ekatsim dluoc eb edam.

 

rD hsifdoC

 

 

I thought you were having a stroke there for a second before I got it.

[Lam1]

ytfeL ereh. toN ot ekam sesucxe, tub I nac dnatsrednu woh hcus a ekatsim dluoc eb edam.

 

rD hsifdoC

Nice one!

[mirosc]

ytfeL ereh. toN ot ekam sesucxe, tub I nac dnatsrednu woh hcus a ekatsim dluoc eb edam.

 

rD hsifdoC

 

well played!

[grainweevil]

ytfeL ereh. toN ot ekam sesucxe, tub I nac dnatsrednu woh hcus a ekatsim dluoc eb edam.

 

rD hsifdoC

 

The very definition of a sinister post...

 

I wonder if the helix in the original artwork was correct, and someone just decided to flip the image because they wanted it going round the barrel the other way?

[jmccarty3]

You'd be amazed at how many photos of pianos and harpsichords are printed backwards on albums and promo materials, just because some idiot graphic designer thought it would look better that way.

[Ursus]

You'd be amazed at how many photos of pianos and harpsichords are printed backwards on albums and promo materials, just because some idiot graphic designer thought it would look better that way.

 

 

Well, as long as they don't start building them that way around!

[jmccarty3]

 

Well, as long as they don't start building them that way around!

 

 

Amazingly enough, back in the day when everyone was trying to "reinvent" the harpsichord, there were two insane English makers, John Paul and William deBlaise, who built what they called a "cembalo traverso," which had the spine on the treble side of the instrument. They were not successful.

 

http://i.imgur.com/4VoTlJd.jpg

[proton007]

In other words, the helix would be correct when looked at from the nib side?