Endangered species face many threats, of which one is the accidental introduction by humans of invasive species or diseases against which they have no defence. Vertebrate species such as rats and mice, rabbits and goats, are perhaps the best known examples, but invasive insects cause similar problems, even if not always so visible. Bird malaria [...]
Making GM Lotharios – the importance of being ‘sexy’ Most external attention on our technology, and indeed most of our scientific publications, focus on the genetics. This is indeed interesting and important, but it is only part of the story. Whatever we or others can develop in terms of heritable modifications to insects, their impact [...]
Wednesday, February 1st 2012 Advocates of genetic engineering often appear to claim that GM is nothing new, that we have modified the genomes of animals and plants since prehistoric times and GM is just a faster, more precise way of doing this. Opponents on the other hand tend to assert that it is a radical [...]
Tuesday, January 31st 2012 I was inspired to start this blog by some excellent blogs such as Mark Benedict on MalariaWorld, and also some detailed comments on poor journalist reporting of science, such as those by Christie Wilcox and Emily Willingham on an article by Ari Levaux in The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/the-very-real-danger-of-genetically-modified-foods/251051/). In that article, Levaux [...]