Ian Sample writing in the Guardian UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears.
The tree of life
I remember being young in school and learning about taxonomy and tree of life. I remember looking at the small tree in the text book and thinking about how cool it would be if you could do this for every animal. Enter Open Tree of Life. An attempt to combine all phylogenetic trees into one comprehensive branching tree which contains all of life. The real power here is that it is open. Anyone can contribute a tree. Life covers such a wide variety of field it will take the talent of many experts if this is going to be anywhere near comprehensive. Being open all the data is available for anyone to use as they wish. Go ahead and have a browse. Put a species in the search box and see what it is closely related to.
Your cat doesn’t love you
Domestic Cats (Felis silvestris catus) Do Not Show Signs of Secure Attachment to Their Owners
‘…there was no other evidence consistent with the interpretation of the bond between a cat and its owner meeting the requirements of a secure attachment.’
One of the funnier papers I’ve read recently. I always appreciate a layman readable headline.
Check out the Oliver Sacks reading list
A fantastic compilation of the best writing by Oliver Sacks by Adrienne Lawrence at The Atlantic. Check it out here.
Are we really closer to a universal flu vaccine?
There has been news recently of a step towards the development of a vaccine would immunise against all flu viruses. Currently flu vaccines have to be developed every year to combat the specific viruses researchers think are likely to be dangerous that year. This is because the part of the virus our bodies immune system is able to recognise is constantly changing. This new research published in both Nature Medicine and Science (links to research papers) targets a part of the virus which is much slower to change.
This new vaccine was developed and then tested on animals. In these cases on mice, ferrets and monkeys. The vaccine used was a H5N1 strain, a bird flu influenza. In all cases the vaccine was eventually successful at causing immunity to the virus. Obviously the next step from here is to refine the development process for the vaccine and test it against other vaccines before human trials can occur. This, however, is a great step into overcoming what is for many people the most common cause of sickness.
GM crop ban in Scotland
‘Scotland is to ban the growing of genetically modified crops’ reports BBC News. The rural affairs secretary, Richard Lochhead, stated “There is no evidence of significant demand for GM products by Scottish consumers and I am concerned that allowing GM crops to be grown in Scotland would damage our clean and green brand, thereby gambling with the future of our £14bn food and drink sector.”
I’m going to go ahead and say this is a stupid, shortsighted view to take. At least his arguments seem to be purely financially motivated rather than some misinformed scientific stance.
2015 report of public attitudes to the sciences
PewResearch today released the results of surveys aiming to glean some insight into the opinions of Americans when it comes to science. The research covers many topics from climate to animal research and from space to evolution. There are many interesting fining here. I can’t possibly detail them all, you can read the report for yourself here. It is important to remember that this research only focuses on the U.S.A. and so there are obvious biases presents. Never the less here are some details I found interesting:
- Gender plays a large role in the attitude to science. For example men are strongly in favour of using animals in research while women are strongly against it. This split in option is also present between races (African Americans and Whites).
- The majority of people think that genetically modified is ‘generally unsafe’ although option is fundamentally divided. In addition when asked if people thought that scientists had clear understanding of genetical modified foods 67% thought they did not.
- Most people think that Astronauts are essential for the future is the U.S. space program.
- Despite much of the news rhetoric in the American press 68% of people think that vaccine should be required. Very few (9%) thought that vaccines were harmful.
Someone in france has eaten a glowing lamb
In a bizarre series of events a person (or people) in France may have eaten a green fluorescent lamb.
The so called ‘Green Sheep’ was developed for medial trials researching heart transplants. The transgenic animal itself has the GFP gene inserted. This causes the production of a protein which glows green under UV light as well as making the skin somewhat transparent. The lamb appears to have been sold to a slaughterhouse late last year before being bought by an individual, presumably for eating.
France and the EU in general is suspicious of genetic modification. These animals are tightly controlled and regulated, so how did this happen? It is thought that the individuals involved had some malicious intent. There has been a history of very active anti-GM activists in the EU, perhaps this is another case.
A very strange series of events but I’ll make a prediction now: consumption of this lamb will not cause any adverse health effects.
EUSynBioS writing
I’ve written a piece for The European Association of Synthetic Biology Students and Postdocs (EUSynBioS). It’s about a recent document regarding SynBio regulation released by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology which informs member of parliament in the UK. This is the first of my writing which has been featured anywhere other than my blog so I’ve got to thank them for the opportunity.
Read the piece here
Also follow EUSynBioS on twitter
PhD Opportunity
I’m working on a piece about the regulation of synthetic biology so in the meantime…
Jarek Bryk, now lecturing at the University of Huddersfield, is taking oh his first PhD student. The work is around the phylogeography and population structure of Apodemus mice. It’s that most modern of research projects. Rather than playing with cute little mice you spend your time with a computer mouse. Bioinformatics and population genetics are the name of the game. But that’s the way the world works now. Where the really interesting things left to discover are.
If you’re interested see the post here or email j.bryk@hud.ac.uk. Deadline is July 10th.
Also follow Jarek on twitter @jarekbryk
Bioscopical 