Todays Trivia

GEEK TRIVIA

Which Of These Proteins Was Named Based On The

 Part Of The Body It Affects?

Legsin (LGS)	Shinsin (SHN)
Scalpin (SCP)	Noggin (NOG)

Answer: Noggin (NOG)

Noggin is a term of indeterminate origin and made its first written appearance as a reference to a person’s head in American English around 1866. Not only is it a slang term, but also a scientific term related, not uncoincidentally, to the body part it refers to.

After Richard M. Harland and William C. Smith, working at the University of California, Berkeley discovered a protein responsible for a myriad of developmental functions in the body, including–rather critically–the development of the palate, mandible, and skulls of babies and infants, the name of the protein was, well, a no-brainer. Given the importance of the protein and the role it plays, they named it “Noggin” after the slang term for head.