• Enter a word or phrase into the textfield below (the longer phrase, the better the chances of finding a match).
• Click "Convert."
• The nucleotide sequence will be generated.
• Click the "Search!" link to be redirected to the NIH's BLAST Page.
• Push the "BLAST!" button.
• It will queue your request and give you an ETA.
• Click "Format!" after the waiting time has elapsed.
• It will bring you to a results page where you can find info about the sequence.

Q. Is this useful in any way?
A. No.

Q. Why would I want to do this then?
A. It's interesting? I, as a geek, find it amazing that arbitrary nucleotide sequences that I make up have been developed inside living organisms over the course of millions of years (Fundamentalist Christians: Bite Me). I have learned a lot through looking at the resulting data. If you're not interested in biology, hey, it's still fun to see what phrases match with what characteristics, right?

Q. Is this ethical?
A. If you are a taxpaying American citizen, your tax dollars go towards funding the National Institute of Health which in turn sponsors the National Center for Biological Information who runs the genomic database. If you are not an American citizen (or are not a taxpayer), thanks to the benevolence of the American government, you are still free to use the NIH website. Ultimately, it's your choice whether you choose to do database queries through BLAST or not.

Q. Where can I learn more?
A. At the National Center for Biological Information's website. If you would like to see what else you can do with the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), visit the NCBI BLAST homepage. Alternatively, you can probably take a course in Bioinformatics at your local university.

Q. What is the NCBI?
A. The NCBI is a great research for biochemical researchers. It is a project run by the US Government for the betterment of Science. It is part of the Human Genome Project and all information on the site is in the Public Domain. it has become an invaluable tool for those in the field. I encourage you to poke around and read up on the latest developments in Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, and the Human Genome Project.