Curl and Accordion
The idea: letters suggest a shape, spirals and zigzags.
Read it
Who is in this book
- Margit A prediction drawn from the letters alone, firm where sure and faint where not
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Beto a child of the Green Takes things apart - Kemi A measurement from the real thing, sharp where it held still and blurred where it moved
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Danya a child of the Green Asks "how do we know?"
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
- Proteins are chains that fold into shapes, and two common shapes are spirals (alpha helices) and flat zigzags (beta strands). Source
- An alpha helix has about 3.6 links per turn, so eighteen links make five turns.
- Flat zigzag strands often lie side by side and hold each other in place as a sheet. Source
Stretched
- Real structure pictures are made from many images and a lot of computing, not one photograph. What we simplified: The story calls it a photograph because that is how it is used: a picture of the real thing.
Made up
- Margit and Kemi are made up. So is the protein; its shapes are typical ones.
Tell it back
Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the first pair on the pinboard goes on your belt.
On your belt: the first pair on the pinboard.
Your belt lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.