Category: 2016
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June 7, 2016
Just Because We Can? The Chimera Question
Without a doubt, the advent of gene editing through CRISPR technology is a scientific and ethical game changer. The potential now to ‘edit’ an embryo has created all sorts of questions that science and governments are grappling with. But another issue at the forefront now is whether we should edit the genes of another species … Read more
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May 10, 2016
Back From the Brink: Should Science Halt Extinction?
As we grapple daily with the consequences of climate change and exploding human populations, other animal species we share the planet with are about to go extinct. But, as reported last week in the journal Nature, science may be able to step in and halt the inexorable decline of critically endangered animals. Right now, there … Read more
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April 12, 2016
The Expanding OSE: Meet the new Managing Editor
What do parasites, stone age sites, enzymes, obscure British islands and horse racing all have in common? They are what the new OSE Managing Editor, Dr James Allen loves to explore in his spare time. That is, when he’s not talking to his wife Kirsty about her work building the UK’s first quantum computer. Over … Read more
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February 29, 2016
Is the UK childbirth policy dangerous?
Imagine being asked to have a haemorrhoid removed without a local anesthetic. Or undergo laparoscopic gallbladder surgery while fully awake. Now imagine pushing a bowling ball out of your body through a hole the size of a golf ball. That’s childbirth. Millions of women do it every day without benefit of pain control or medical … Read more
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January 21, 2016
Will We Conquer the Superbugs?
This week comes news of a new drug refined through a novel process of isolating and growing bacteria. The drug, called teixobactin, marks an entirely new class of antibiotics developed from a method called iChip, which may fundamentally change the way we discover new antimicrobials. The announcement has some scientists speculating that we could succeed in efforts to fight the emerging plague … Read more
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January 13, 2016
Do You Really Know Where You’ve Come From?
It’s common for most of us to know where our grandparents and great-grandparents were born and raised. But go back a few more generations and things get a bit murky. Less so in England, where detailed birth and death records have been kept for hundreds of years. But what about before we started obsessively keeping … Read more