The Story of DNA

What is DNA? DNA is an abbreviation of DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. It is a hereditary material located in the nucleus of a cell of living organisms (including humans). It is also considered as building blocks of living organisms. The DNA consists of four basic units (called as bases) - adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. The structure of DNA is in double helix. The double helix structure of DNA was discovered by Crick and Watson in 1953 - one of the great discoveries of the century - and both of them (including Wilkins) received Nobel Prize in 1962.

The left stamp depicts the 1962 Nobel Prize recipients for the discovery of the double helix of DNA. The solving of double helix structure was partly based on the X-ray diffraction image on DNA (shown on the left stamp). The right stamp depicts the 1978 Nobel Prize recipients for breaking the DNA codes.

In DNA structure, base adenine (A) is always paired with base thymine (T) and base cytosine (C) is always paired with base guanine (G). This stamp sheetlet has a perfect composition to show the base pairing of DNA.

this miniature sheet also shows a nice composition of base pairing of DNA

this miniature sheet depicts the model of double helix DNA structure

Below are a few stamps which have image of double helix DNA structure.

The double helix DNA attributes to chromosomes (in other words, chromosomes consist of DNA), and this information is well presented by the stamp below.

The methods of DNA sequencing (to read the order of bases in the double helix DNA structure or to read genetic codes of the DNA/gene) were developed in 1970s. Two methods were developed - Maxam Gilbert method and Sanger method. However, only Sanger method is adopted as a common approach for DNA sequencing. In fact, the DNA sequencing of human genome (completed in 2003) was done using Sanger method. The stamps below depict the Sanger DNA sequencing.


The chromatogram of DNA sequences is shown at the top right corner of the stamp

The two stamps depict the double helix DNA structure and the location of DNA in the chromosomes. However, the interesting part of these stamps is the stamp gutter showing the chromatogram of DNA sequences.

Malaysia Maxicards - Tiger

Malaysia Maxicard - National Flower

Thematic Collecting

Thematic collecting is quite a popular approach in stamp collecting. I guess many stamp collectors do collect one-country stamps, particularly country where one is residing. Some even go one step further to collect stamps of "foreign" countries (countries of non-resident). Many of these collectors are also into thematic collecting. Honestly, I am not a good thematic collector, though I had tried on bird stamps, frog stamps and dragonfly stamps. I try to figure out those popular themes among collectors, and here are some of themes which have come to my mind....

- birds (all kinds of birds)
- birds of prey
- wwf (with wwf logo)
- animals (all kinds of animals)
- cats (or tigers)
- dogs
- tigers
- elephants
- dinosaurs
- whales and dolphins
- amphiphibians (frogs/toads/salamanders)
- fishes
- seashells
- reptiles (including snakes)
- turtles
- insects (all kinds of insects)
- butterflies and moths
- dragonflies and damselflies
- beetles
- flowers
- orchids
- roses
- carnivorous plants (such as pitcher plants, rafflesias etc.)
- fruits
- mushrooms
- food and drink
- trains
- vehicles (cars, trucks, motobikes etc.)
- ships
- airplanes
- airspaces
- bridges
- lighthouses
- rivers
- waterfalls
- UNESCO World Heritage
- stamps in stamps
- post boxes
- scouts
- music instrument
- Olympics
- bootballs
- kites
- paintings
- costumes
- flags
- Christmas
- zodiacs
- joint issues

Are you a thematic collector? Is/Are your theme(s) listed above?

Malaysia Maxicard - Butterfly

Malaysia Maxicard - Rafflesia

Malaysia Maxicard - Batik

Taiwan ATM - Dragon

These ATMs with dragon motif were issued on 18 June 2012.

Malaysia Maxicard - Kuala Lumpur Landscape

Malaysia Maxicard - Thaipusam

Malaysia Maxicards - Melaka

Fruit Definitive Mango RM10 - 2012/01

The serial number for fruit definitive Mango RM10 is now 2012/01. The colour control plate is no longer printed on the sheet margin. Colour control plate was present for earlier serial numbers. Click here to see those earlier serial numbers for RM10 Mango.

The RM10 Mango from serial number 2012/01 is a "NEW" stamp because it is different from those of serial numbers 2002/01 and 2003/1. The scientific name of mango is in italics (Mangifera odorata) for those of 2002/2 and 2003/1, but not in italics (Mangifera odorata) for 2012/01 (see below image for comparison).

the top stamp showing Mangifera odorata in italics font and the bottom stamp showing Mangifera odorata in normal font.

Result of Poll

I was asking the visitors to my blog to cast their votes for a poll on the price of the first version Royal Visit sheetlet set. You may click here to read about the detail of the poll. A total of 27 votes had been recorded, here is the result:

What do you think about the result of the poll?

2012 - SetemKu

The below stamp set was released by Pos Malaysia on 5 November 2012. These are the personalised stamps.

Collecting Stamp Sheets - II

I talked about collecting stamp sheets some time ago. You may click here to read the entry on Collecting Stamp Sheet I.

I personally think the design of stamp sheets of Malaysia is getting more and more beautiful and interesting. It is just nice to collect them, and it is not too difficult to keep them. I normally put stamp sheets in OPP plastic sleeves. For the purpose of display, I may put the OPP-protected stamp sheets in an A4-size folder (the one that we use to put our documents, and it can be obtained easily from stationery shops).

Of course, the cost may be the major reason for many collectors not to collect stamp sheets because a stamp-sheet set normally consists of 20 stamp sets, meaning that one has to fork up 20 times of money just to collect a stamp-sheet set. But.... the stamp sheets are just beautiful, and I can't resist, can I?

I believe that there are a good number of collectors collecting stamp sheets. The stamp folder issued by Pos Malaysia is attracting more and more collectors. Many collectors like to use stamp folders to keep stamp sheets. However, I don't collect stamp folders because I use OPP plastic sleeves and A4-size folders to keep my stamp sheets.

Technical Problem on Poll

The polling system provided by Blogger is having problem. The voting records keep on auto-deleting every few hours. It is really annoying, and I just couldn't get the polling data from it. I am very grateful if you could just put down your vote at the Cbox message below the poll.

Something Wrong....

This morning I found out that the poll that I put on the left side of the blog page went crazy. Almost all the votes (11 altogether) went missing like a air bubble bursting, leaving a single vote showing in the poll. Therefore, I reset the closing date of the poll to 8 November 2012. It looks like I have to plea the visitors of my blog to cast again their votes.

Please kindly vote again....