By Dragana Catici, University of Bath
Did you know that, just like us, other viruses can get infected with viruses too? Viruses have always challenged our views of life. These small obligate parasites, with sizes ranging from 20–400 nm, have been the cause of much pain and death throughout the history of life on Earth.
By Jirayu “Boo Boo” Tanprasertsuk, Ph.D. candidate in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition, Tufts University
Jirayu was the winner of the 2018 Biochemical Society Science Communication Competition (video category). Here Jirayu explores some of his inspirations in creating his video. You can see his winning entry, “Eating for your eyes”, here. The winning written article, by Victoria Bolton, is published in the August 2018 issue of The Biochemist magazine, which you can find here.
Shaked Regev, Stanford University, California
Imagine a world where people can continue going about their lives exactly as they are, while making animal friendly and environmentally conscious choices. Clean meat, also known as cultured meat, could very well make this a reality within the next few years. The idea is essentially to create meat without necessitating the slaughter animals, by growing their cells in a bioreactor under suitable conditions, such as a medium with all the nutrients the cells need, as well as the ideal temperature and pressure for their growth. But why bother changing our food system? What’s wrong with it as things stand?
By Meg Booth, University of Cambridge
In January 2017, I attended a careers talk where I saw a presentation given by a Patent Attorney. I was immediately captivated by what sounded like the perfect career for me in that it would allow me to combine my technical background in molecular biology with my interests in science communication, writing and client relations.
James Brown, Biochemical Society
On the 1 May, the Biochemical Society will be at the opening film of the 18th London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film. Prior to the film, geneticist, microbiologist, comedian and all round good egg Dr Charlotte Mykura will be giving a talk which aims to separate the science from the fiction and explore how fact can be even more unexpected than film. The film in question is Chimera, a Sci-Fi horror in which (and I quote), “A brilliant but disturbed scientist’s children are in cryogenic suspension, while he races to cure their deadly disease by decoding the DNA of the immortal Turritopsis jellyfish. To progress he needs lots of stem cells. A manipulative millionaire can help but she has her own agenda!”
By Carmen Coxon, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control
Scientists and politicians both have a tendency to over promise (usually with the best of intentions!) and under deliver (life never really works out how you expect, right?). By the end of the 30th Parliamentary Links Day I also got the impression we share something else – a desire to ensure that UK science remains at the top of its game and that the UK scientific research community is well supported.
By Peter Wotherspoon, Biochemical Society
Okay, so we all know how this song and dance goes; it’s been in enough movies by this point. Here we have (under slightly more violent circumstances than would be ideal) what is generally thought of as the technological singularity. The idea that the creation of artificial super-intelligence will lead to an unstoppable cascade of technological advancements because no doubt a computer intelligence smarter than us can in turn make another computer intelligence smarter than it and so on. So, with all the hype around AI recently, have we reached the tipping point?
Louise Corscadden, University of Leicester, UK
Most people are first introduced to yellow fever at the travel clinic; upon imminent jet-setting to a tropical destination far away, we are told we need a yellow fever vaccine. To us, yellow fever is a disease of places far away: out of sight, out of mind. However, to those in the 47 at-risk countries in South America and Africa (WHO, 2018), it is a highly lethal disease. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2013 between 84,000 and 170,000 people suffered from the severe form of the disease, with 29,000 to 60,000 dying as a result (WHO, 2018). Last year, the disease once again reared its head in Brazil in a precedence recently unseen in years.
Leah Fitzsimmons, University of Birmingham
Monday, 25 June, saw the opening of the first ever ‘Evidence Week’ in the Houses of Parliament. Organised by Sense About Science in association with House of Commons Library, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, POST – Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, and SAGE Publishing, the idea was to hold a week full of events, masterclasses and other sessions to help bring the public and parliamentarians into discussion about the use of evidence in public life.
