On April 21, thousands of scientists gathered in South San Francisco, Calif. to form the world's largest DNA helix.
Organized by Genentech, Inc., a biotechnology company that produces research in fields such as oncology, immunology, and neuroscience, the attempt was set up as a team-building activity for their employees. The company previously had its employees form a helix back in 1996, although that had not been an official Guinness World Records attempt.
Wearing colored hats to differentiate the two intertwining strands and other parts of DNA, the participants stood atop of an outline that had been drawn on the ground in chalk so that shape and order of the DNA helix was 100 percent accurate, with event organizers checking that the strand formation intertwined in the right direction.
Once all employees were counted and positioned, they had to stand in place for a minimum of ten minutes in order to meet GWR guidelines. A GWR judge viewed the helix from a rooftop while two helicopters circled above the crowd to get aerial shots.
There was initially some concern over whether the helicopters would be able to take photos of the formation, because President Barack Obama was scheduled to depart San Francisco around the same time as the attempt and event staff were worried that the air space overhead would be shut down while he flew over the area.
But it all worked out perfectly, with the president departing before the attempt got underway. A total of 2,640 Genentech, Inc. employees -- most of them scientists -- took part in the attempt, successfully claiming the GWR title of creating the world's largest DNA helix.
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