Join Marina as she explores all sorts of the different parts of biology, from looking at the human body to the behaviour of insects – and everything else in between!.

We recently came across this cool, easy science project that lets you extract DNA from fruit!

As any teacher would tell you, DNA is the blueprint of life – it spells out the instructions to all living things to tell them how to become what they are, and how cells should work.

So how cool would it be to actually see this stuff? And even better, you get to mash up some fruit too!

So what do you need?

• Fruit – strawberries and kiwis work well
• Clear plastic cups
• Mini-sieves
• Extraction Buffer – this is made up of salt, washing up liquid, and water
• Alcohol (70% and chilled for best results – get your parents help for this bit!)
• Fork or spoon – for mushing!

How to do it:

1. Mush up the fruit with a fork
2. Add the Extraction Buffer to the fruit and mush up some more
3. Filter strawberry mush to remove seeds and big lumps
4. Slowly add the alcohol down the side of the cup

And the result…

If everything has gone as planned, then you should see a fluffy white substance appear at the top of the mixture. This is DNA!

Listen to Marina Ventura’s Inside Biology

> Visit Marina Ventura’s Inside Biology homepage
> Download the podcast for free from iTunes