The story Synthetic life has gone mainstream. Since I wrote about Craig Venter’s work on creating synthetic cells this technology is now available to anyone with a lab so I guess it’s not surprising that companies are now making, and selling, ‘synthetic biology’ organisms.

The story I come across a lot of science news stories (as you can imagine) and  have noticed that journalists are attracted to certain topics – ones that they think have a certain ‘sexy’ appeal to their readers I imagine. Bionic body parts seems to be one of them – conjuring imagery of a future […]

The story As human population grows and pollution levels rise, our demand for clean water increases but its supply dwindles. How long will it be before our planet cannot provide its population with enough clean water to survive? Some would say that this is already happening.. Japanese design company, Takram, was asked to design a […]

The story Researchers in California have successfully converted mouse skin cells into brain cells, eliminating the need for stem cells. It is hoped that the same procedure could be carried out on human cells, bringing the possibility of stem cell therapy for conditions such as Alzheimer’s closer to reality. This is a great story to […]

…does whatever a spider-goat does. Can she swing from a web? No she can’t she’s a goat… …however, she can produce spider silk proteins in her milk.

This is a great video about Gregor Mendel and his work – a topic found in most GCSE science specifications. It was produced by Nottingham Trent University for their ‘My favourite scientist’ project.  You can find videos about other scientists on their website.

A couple of links and short lesson ideas based on recent news stories to use in lessons on fertility treatments.

The story Today sees the start of London zoo’s annual stock-take where the numbers of each species are counted. This task maybe a quick job for the keepers of the big cats or large reptiles but spare a thought for the invertebrate keepers, counting every butterfly could keep them occupied for up to 4 weeks.

  This spooky video shows the giant red crab which have invaded Antarctic waters due to increased water temperatures: an example of how changes in non-living factors can alter the distribution of organisms.  This invasive species has the potential to destroy the delicately balanced food webs in this ecosystem.

The story I received an interesting letter in the post last week inviting my two year old daughter to take part in an international research study. Feeling rather proud that scientists have realised her potential so early, I read on wondering what research they would exactly need her to carry out.