R.i.P James Watson. Co discoverer of human DNA double helix

I saw in the scientific news yesterday that the American geneticist and molecular biologist James Watson had passed away at the age of 97.

Along with British scientists Francis Crick and Maurice Wilson, Watson won the Nobel prize for medicine having discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 1962.

Sadly, I suspect many in both scientific and non scientific communities alike, will focus on one statement he made where he appeared to suggest certain races from certain places will consistently score lower intelligence measured scores than others.
The implication being that one generation after another is doomed to a cycle of limited life improvement.
Kinda obvious now we have a far better understanding of how better quality nutrition cleaner air quality and obviously better educated teaching methods to learn from etc. can clearly influence for the better

Seen as something of a racist statement of the time, Watson was ostracised by many in the research field and was even fired from certain universities over the comments.

MoveAlong · 70-79, M

Interesting tidbit: You can vacuum DNA molecules out of the atmosphere using specialized filters. Enceladus one of the moons of Saturn is covered in ice but has a liquid water ocean beneath. Fissures in the ice caused by tectonic stress are constantly spewing water and vapor from the ocean into the atmosphere.

In the future there is a plan to send a probe to Enceladus which will skim the upper atmosphere and hopefully vacuum up some DNA samples if they are present. The samples will be examined by an automated lab on board. It is also possible that the probe could slingshot around Saturn and return the samples to earth and be examined here.