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Figure 1 is very festive!! Very appropriate for the Christmas season!! Ribbons everywhere!!!

Now: "Molecules called Ku's are always drifting around in the cell waiting for a DSB to happen. When one occurs, they quickly --- in a matter of seconds --- clamp on to the broken ends. The Ku's then call in a large complex of proteins to do the rejoining, which normally takes about 30 minutes."

Given how quickly some forms of biochemical interactions can occur (so I understand, as a layman reader), I am surprised it takes even a few seconds for the Ku's to arrive. But if they are sizeable (in biomolecular terms) even they must maneuver around the cell cytoplasm or nucleoplasm [not sure which applies here?] I guess the cell interior is not quite as "watery"* as I believed from some of my prior reading.

Two mental images that came to mind upon reading this:

1) a bunch of big linemen (Ku's) getting in each other's way as they struggle to capture a free ball (DDSB)

2) a brick wall around a gated community with a big hole in it after being hit by a truck, with many bricks (proteins) needed for repairing it. [Maybe a double rail fence with both rails broken would be an even better image for DSB?]

*OT, but sort of related: I understand during fertilization, there is a delay of several hours between when a sperm crosses the egg's outer membrane and its DNA combines with the egg's DNA; also presumably transiting through the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm ?]

This bio and genetic stuff is actually pretty complicated and not easy to pick up with a casual reading. Several exposures are probably required to properly settle the information in our skulls. Which in turn requires multiple exposures to more basic precursor knowledge, etc. :-) But I think I understand the gist. Thanks.

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A mechanism with Bioplausibility and close to 100 years of good observational studies... I would say this would be an incredibly strong case if I was working on a pharmaceutical.

Of course the opponents of radiation model reform don’t actually care about scientific mechanisms or observational studies... or really science at all.

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