Tagged With: genetics
How genetics can reduce the threat from the world’s changing diet
Rebecca Nesbit is an ecologist, blogger and author of Is that Fish in your Tomato?, exploring the opportunities and risks of genetically modified foods. A trip to the supermarket gives me cheap and easy access to foods which would have been alien to my grandparents, and walking past food shops in London suburbs often introduces … Continue reading
The impact of DNA testing for cancer susceptibility
Shirley Hodgson FRSB is a Professor of Cancer Genetics at St George’s University of London. She will be one of the speakers at the Biology Week 2016 debate on 11th October: The DNA revolution: Can we predict people’s chance of getting cancer? Should we? Sequencing our genomes will soon become cheap, easy and widespread, so … Continue reading
STR Trek: the Next Generation
By Dr Lisa Smith, senior lecturer in criminology, University of Leicester and Professor Mark Jobling, professor of genetics, University of Leicester. Listen to Sir Alec Jeffreys being interviewed by Professor Alison Woollard FRSB at the RSB’s fundraising event in May 2016. Today, thanks partly to TV’s CSI franchise, everyone is familiar with the DNA profile … Continue reading
The surprising power of celebrity stories for science communication
Robin Bisson, director of Genetic Expert News Service (GENeS), discusses the powerful combination of science and celebrities. Angelina Jolie is probably the most famous person to have had a double mastectomy and reconstructive breast surgery. An interesting little study recently found that media coverage of Angelina Jolie’s decision to go under the knife increased public … Continue reading
Science Fact for Fiction
Helen Pennington, a doctoral training student at Imperial College London, discusses the role of science in science fiction. Science fiction has repeatedly predicted scientific, technological or financial advances. For example, Edward Bellamy predicted the use of universal credit and credit cards in the 1888 novel Looking Backward; and Jules Verne described many of the aspects … Continue reading
Capturing Biology in Action
Billy Clapham is a zoology student at the University of Sheffield and won the Society’s amateur photography competition last year. Photography is a fantastic medium to explore and reveal the beauty of the natural world in all its forms. But beautiful photographs of animals and plants from all around the world, while no less special, … Continue reading
Improving life with cystic fibrosis
By Grace Paget, science writer Before I started volunteering for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust I had some knowledge of the genetic disorder from learning about it in biology lessons, but I had very little understanding of just how much of an impact it has on the people who have it and their families. Cystic fibrosis … Continue reading
Genetic testing – how much would you want to know?
By Emma Kelson AMSB, training officer at the Society of Biology Given the choice, would you want to know whether you are likely to suffer from a deadly disease in the future? For those who are curious, you can now get some insights by using the genetic testing kit ’23andme’, which has recently launched in … Continue reading
Sir David Hopwood – ‘designer’ of antibiotics
Gabriele Butkute, events and administrative assistant at the Society of Biology, writes about Sir David Hopwood, a scientist featured in the Biology: Changing the World top ten poll. Professor Sir David Hopwood, a British geneticist and microbiologist, carried out fundamental research into the genetics of the soil bacteria Streptomyces, an organism which gives rise to … Continue reading
Behavioural Genetics: who are you?
Dr Claire Hastings introduces the field of Behavioural Genetics ahead of the Royal Institution debate entitled: “The good, the bad, and the genetically predetermined” on the 15th October, during Biology Week 2013. Your genome contains all the instructions for building you. This includes genes that affect your behaviour: from learning and memory, eating and sleeping … Continue reading