Above: DNA-point DNA sampling kit.

At last, there's a double helix on the cover of our favourite computer magazine, the UK's MacUser. We can't tell whether photographer and designer Benedict Campbell has drawn the correct number of bases per turn, but like his other work it's still pretty cool.

Update: The New Scientist (March 15 issue) included several articles celebrating the 50th anniversary and had a double helix on the front cover. Scientific American (April issue) also included a short interview with Jim Watson. Professional Nurse, a UK monthly magazine, also featured a double helix on its August cover to coincide with a clinical genetics briefing paper.

When Antony Barrington-Brown took his now-famous photos of Crick and Watson in May 1953, he was paid a mere 10/6 (fifty-two and a half pence) for the images. The photographs have been widely-used and now Antony is trying to compensate for non-payment of royalties he's been due over the last fifty years. The Science Photo Gallery has issued a limited number of expensive copies of one of the photos, signed by the photographer, plus a more affordable poster (shown right) with explanatory text.

Photograph courtesy of the Science Photo Gallery.

Phwor! This DNA bike is really a scooter, but if it can pull birds like that, who cares?

Italian motor manufacturer Piaggio calls it "A genetically modified scooter. A sturdy frame able to capture all your driving energy and give you thrills you never thought possible."

As they said in the film GATTACA: "With a helix like that under your arm, you can go anywhere."

This 24% lead crystal vase was commissioned by The Royal Mint from Edinburgh Crystal. It's the perfect receptacle for genetically-modified blooms (these genetically-modified carnations with vibrant purple or blue petals, are, unfortunately, only available in the USA and Australia from Florigene).

Alastair Macintosh, a designer at Caithness Glass, was commissioned to design this double helix paperweight for The Royal Mint. Funnily enough, everyone here at the NCBE gave me a slightly similar Caithness paperweight for my 40th birthday.

Each DNA paperweight was hand-made and hand-finished, so no two paperweights were identical. Only 250 of these special DNA paperweights were produced: they are now no longer available.

The Web abounds with DNA jewellery of various descriptions, but these sterling silver earrings and pendant (right) are some of the more accurate representations we've unearthed.

Apart from these DNA items, the supplier, NeuroMart, sells a strange assortment of brain-related novelties.

The beautiful (plasmid?) bracelet on the left is one of several similar items supplied by Carolyn Forsman, which in 2002, came in the top 20 science and technology gifts recommended by Scientific American.

Another notable supplier of (more costly) DNA jewellery is 'DNA stuff', a charitable venture which supports research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

This board game was devised by our friend Dorte Hammelev's biology students back in 1990-1. You travel round the double helix, and on your way answer questions about genetics, some of which require fairly long answers - hence the egg timer. The game was available (in Danish only) for a short time from Landbrugsraadet.

Double Helix ('a double bill of twisted roots and jazz grooves') began life at Live Theatre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne's BigFest, a series of experimental meetings between jazz and folk musicians. Out of this collaboration grew Annie Whitehead and Alistair Anderson's Northern Lights and Trio AAB's co-operation with Brian Finnegan. The latest Double Helix tour featured sets from both line-ups, plus a new commission from Chris Stout.

The Wellcome Trust's bag would be great if the drawing of a DNA molecule on it had 10 rather than 17 base-pairs per turn. Having said that the Wellcome Library is excellent and is worth becoming a member of. Even if you can't visit the library in London's Euston Road, its Web site is well worth looking at.

The printed canvas bag on the left comes from the British Council in Thailand. The Thais not only hosted the Council's DNA50 exhibition, but also built an excellent one of their own aimed at a younger audience.

This Easter egg was decorated by me, following a visit to a local shop which iced names onto eggs, but wouldn't risk a double helix. It is surprisingly easy to ice Easter eggs. This one is going into a suitable box with a £2 double helix coin.

Instructions for icing are given here.

This cake was produced to celebrate the 50th Anniversary. The replicating DNA on top is based on a drawing I made about a decade ago. The same drawing was used by the BBSRC for a poster they produced for an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

This DNA 50 logo really does count as ephemera. It appeared for one day only (25 April 2003) on Google's Web site. Google does not permit its special logos to be used on non-Google sites, but you can see the DNA 50 version in their collection of special logos.

How could I have forgotten this? The NCBE van 'J5DNA' is perhaps the ultimate DNA accessory. The 'J5' stands for John Schollar -- sort of. Personally I think 'D5 DNA' (double-stranded) might have had a better trade-in value.

This novelty key ring, produced by the British Royal Mint, features a DNA £2 coin on the fob, but sells for an impressive £14.95 (although I think that this is less than the Millennium Dome DNA key ring cost).

These double-helical potato snacks are the ideal accompaniment to a DNA cocktail. Unlike several similar offerings, they're right-handed and come in both ready-salted and salt and vinegar flavours. Unfortunately, the packet states that no GM ingredients have been used in their production ;-)

STOP PRESS: some fusilli pasta is very similar in shape, but beware of the left-handed variety.

20 copies of this very popular DNA50 exhibition, devised by the British Council and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office toured the world. In several countries, the exhibition was accompanied by practical activities devised by the NCBE, including John Schollar's Lego DNA model.

Milan Stojanovic from Columbia University (New York) and Darko Stefanovic of the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) made a prototype DNA computer (dubbed 'Maya') that plays noughts and crosses (aka tic-tac-toe). The computer will be described in a forthcoming issue of Nature Biotechnology and in the 23 August edition of New Scientist.

Our old friend John Watson, a biology teacher at the European School in Luxembourg, persuaded the entire population of his school to make this gigantic human DNA chain. Unfortunately such chains do not qualify for the Guinness Book of Records except as 'assemblies of people' and of course there are much greater 'assemblies of people' that claim the record.

One of the 'Great Storms' that have ravaged the UK in recent years brought down numerous trees at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This mural depicting, amongst other things, cell division and DNA was made using wood from the felled trees.

Search the Web for 'DNA T shirt' and you'll find numerous T shirts featuring the double helix. Many of the coolest designs come from skate and surf suppliers -- and some of the worst from science suppliers. On the right, above are double helix shirts which are official merchandise of the US funk-metal band Alien Ant Farm. Of course, the best designs are ones you draw yourself; you can download mine from here.

Another notable supplier of DNA T-shirts (and other clothing) is 'DNA stuff', a charitable venture which supports the work of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Only 50 pints of GM tomato beer, a subtle blend of ancient and modern biotechnology, were brewed to celebrate the centenary of the rediscovery of Mendel's work. This unique ale combined the traditional craft of the brewer with the best of British science at the close of the 20th Century.

It was flavoured with some of the first (and last?) genetically-modified tomato purée to be sold in the world. Definitely NOT by appointment to HRH the Prince of Wales...

STOP PRESS: The tomato beer label (left) is now available as a T-shirt design.

There can be no more appropriate way to celebrate 50 years of the double helix than with a glass of this 1998 vintage 'Cavendish' sparking wine, produced in England by the Ridgeway Wine Estate.

This medal-winning 'Cavendish' brings to mind the work of Watson and Crick in the Cavendish laboratory, Cambridge, 50 years ago.

Furthermore, it is produced in a similar way to the 'Merret method' described by Christopher Merret to The Royal Society in 1662, over 30 years before the French first made sparkling wine (Dom Pérignon, 1695) and almost 70 years before the oldest French Champagne House was established.

Marek Budzynski and Zbigniew Badowski designed Warsaw University's spectacular new library in 1993. As well as amazing roof gardens and internal walls festooned with 30-metre high creepers, the library features large copper panels with extracts from famous texts and important chemical and mathematical formulae. One of these, facing Dobra Street, includes the chemical structure of DNA (right, with Ania, Jarek and John pointing).

We were lucky to be able to escape from the building to take this photograph, however. Although we could readily enter the library to marvel at the architecture, to leave we had to become one-day members. Reverse Polish logic, perhaps?

The micropipette has become the 'badge of office' of the molecular biologist. This limited-edition micropipette included a gold-coloured tip ejection mechanism and a small golden plaque, shown below.

Douglas Adams could have come up with this one. The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Project is a privately-funded scheme which plans to send a colony of 11 female mice into Earth orbit. The results of Biosatellite, a joint project of MIT, the University of Washington and the University of Queensland, could indicate whether humans can live safely in an environment with one-third Earth (i.e., Martian) gravity. Their logo is shown on the right. Sponsor this worthy enterprise today!

Words evade us...

For US$ 21.95, this thing comes with a hat as well (not shown).

Cold Spring Harbor's 'DNA Stuff' shop sells a wide variety of DNA paraphernalia for charitable purposes.

Professor John Jungck set design students a challenge to produce packaging for a collection of four DNA knot puzzles. The resulting packages, together with John's knots can be seen at the Bioquest Web site.

This is a glow-in-the dark plastic puzzle that roughly resembles a DNA molecule.

Try a Google search for 'DNA' and you'll come across Douglas Adams. He was proud of the fact that he, DNA, was born in Cambridge nine months before Crick and Watson unveiled their model. Like Jim Watson, he was left-handed too.

Douglas felt guilty about studying English at university - "If I had known then what I know now I would have done biology or zoology" he said. "At the time I had no idea that it was an interesting subject, but now I think it is the most interesting subject in the world."

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