It is no acronym. Instead, it is a very practical shortening of a word which is as complex as it is unpronounceable.
Deoxyribonucleic acid.
Oh, of course, too simple.
Basically, it is a molecule (much easier to pronounce) which carries all the genetic parts which make up the jigsaw of all known living organisms.
As well as may viruses. Professor Google tells me.
Most of these molecules are comprised of two biopolymer strands which coil around each other to form a thing called a double helix.
Now who'd have thought it?
Well, a bloke called Friedrich Miescher figured there was something mysterious and magical about molecules and he was able to basically isolate them nearly 150 years ago.
His work was underlined just over a century later by scientists who identified these things built around deoxyribonucleic acid.
So as the tweaking and exploration continued DNA came to be a most valuable part in the great quest of knowledge about the complicated strands of life.
Just how they go about using it however is beyond me.
I tried to weave a path through the explanations I came across in several published scientific pieces and, at the end of the day, basically, I don't really get it.
But hey, as long as someone does and as long as it proves fascinating, insightful, valuable and rewarding, then great - go for it you white-coated representatives of reason.
I suppose, to make it a little simpler to understand, DNA is like a fingerprint.
No two are the same.
Because, when they line someone up in court on serious charges, they roll out the DNA angle.
It's individuality is as valuable as a well-formed fingerprint.
Juries nod in agreement as the judge declares "take him down".
On the more entertaining side of the DNA slate there is the use of it in determining where an individual has come from, as the strands sort of create stepping stones from generations to generations.
My only knowledge of my forefathers and mothers is that we came from England after the family left Ireland, and somewhere along the way Spanish sailors became involved.
I think that's all I want to know for now... amigo.
But Richard O'Brien goes a little further as he fronts up tonight for the first part in a new series on TV1 called The DNA Detectives.
On behalf of well-known Kiwi names, he digs, finds and surprises.
-The DNA Detectives, TV1 at 8.30pm tonight: The first couple of Kiwis to provide a spot of spittle to set their searchers off in pursuit of their pasts are radio and television correspondent Jack Tame who is based in New York and chef Ray McVinnie. What is revealed leads to "further enquiries" in places like the US, the UK and even Jamaica. And that's all the producers are saying for now. Could be intriguing.
ON THE BOX
* Downton Abbey, Prime at 8.30pm Thursday:
One of the finest lines to emerge from this sort of expanded version of Upstairs Downstairs was when Violet, the dowager Countess of Grantham played by Maggie Smith, uttered the lines "what is a weekend?" after hearing the term. To her, every day was simply a day ... there was no working week in her world.
Here is the final series of this drama involving butlers and housekeepers and the general gentry. And, oh dear, the times are a changin' and indeed, there are changes in the wind ... and some of the staff may have to go. Oh gosh.
* Dynamo: Mission Impossible, TV2 at 7.30pm Friday:
I put this sort of show in the category of "you never know". Because you just never know what they may have edited or inserted or tweaked or whatever. I do this because it frustrates me to see things which are effectively inexplicable ... despite the fact there is a rational explanation to such things.
Apart from the final act of a particular illusion, the most interesting images are the faces of those who witness it. Ahh, it's gotta be mirrors ... and some trickery in the editing room.
* World Cup Rugby, Quarter Final, All Blacks vs France, Sky Sport 1 at 7.30am:
I sensed a collective sigh along the lines of "uh oh" rustling across the land as Ireland took down France, which meant the latter would take us on in the quarters. If ever there was an old foe to fear then the French are very much it. No one needs reminding of what happened in the last quarter final clash we had with these boys in blue. Now it starts getting serious and all of a sudden the Irish appear to have thrown their competitive hat well and truly into the ring - they have Argentina and should take that one.
