The story

Swine flu may be inspiring fear worldwide, but for Stephan Zielinski of San Francisco, California, it inspired a song.

The virus has the classification H1N1 because it includes two key viral proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Zielinski took the genetic sequence of a variant of hemagglutinin and created a computer algorithm to turn it into music.

Zielinski, 41, is not a biochemist or a professional musician -- he's a writer, photographer, computer programmer, and blogger who creates music in his spare time. But he's fascinated that, even though biologists can map the genome of the virus and predict what the hemagglutinin protein looks like, the human body still cannot distinguish it as the "bad guy" -- at least, not until there's a vaccine. Listen to the song Read full article »

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