News

Ready to refresh your understanding of DNA? Intrigued by jumping genes, CRISPR or the ethics of genetics research and data? CHAT: Join tonight’s discussion Log in for a chat with geneticists and other teachers between 8-9pm. GO TO CHAT ❯ ASK: Get answers to your science questions anytime Can’t make today’s CHAT? Use the ASK section to post questions to scientists. Great for refreshing areas of your science knowledge, especially if you’re teaching out of specialism. Q: Does anyone know much about stem cell use in therapeutic cloning? One of my students was asking how a group of stem cells can be cultured to differentiate into one specific cell type over another. How do scientists control what the cells will become? ASK A SCIENTIST MY QUESTION ❯ Featured scientists in tonight’s Genetics chat Whether you’ve got ten minutes or the whole hour free, pop in for a chat with the … Continue reading →

Searching for Schrödinger’s cat? Getting tangled in entanglement? Uncertain about Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle (or maybe not)? Join tonight’s discussion for teachers and physicists between 8-9pm to question the weirdness of the quantum world: GO TO CHAT ❯ Whether you’ve got ten minutes or the whole hour free, pop in for a chat with the researchers online, including: Harikesh Ranganath University of Strathclyde The most exciting thing that’s happened this year: Google’s Quantum Computer. The scientists at google have successfully built a “computer” that operates on quantum principles. Such a computer is firstly an engineering marvel, and also a proof of principle that Quantum Mechanics works even on such scales. This computer will be used to test out quantum algorithms and perhaps see application in modelling chaotic systems such as weather models. My latest work: I work on a Quantum Gas Microscope. This is essentially a camera with resolution enough to … Continue reading →

‘Jumping genes’, the ethics of CRISPR, DNA sequencing in class(!)… last week’s Subject Knowledge Zone CHAT covered some fascinating areas of genetics. Join tonight’s discussion for teachers and geneticists between 8-9pm: GO TO CHAT ❯ Francesca: What are people’s thoughts on the use of CRISPR to edit the twins in China? Reka: Scientifically it’s super cool, ethically it’s super not cool. There have been few details about it, and the scientist who did it has been AWOL for some months…Read highlights from previous CHATs Whether you’ve got ten minutes or the whole hour free, pop in for a chat with six researchers delving into DNA, including: Alena Pance Senior scientist at Wellcome Sanger Institute “In this age of genetics, we have access to great data about the malaria parasite, but assessing the host cells is a bit more difficult. This is because the malaria parasites invade red blood cells and … Continue reading →

Gene editing, DNA sequencing, debates about data. Few areas of science make as many headlines as our understanding of genetics. CHAT with scientists in Subject Knowledge Zone about these advances tonight between 8pm-9pm. GO TO CHAT ❯ “I’m interested to hear the routes you each took into your current career? My pupils definitely don’t appreciate the wide range of opportunities that studying sciences can provide” Teacher in CHAT Your colleagues are welcome to join you. Whether you’ve got ten minutes or the whole hour free, pop in for a chat with six researchers looking into what makes you, you, including: Reka Nagy Geneticist in industry “My favourite misconception about genes? I have several! That “genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are universally bad for you.” This is very untrue. Humans have been genetically modifying (selectively breeding) plants and animals for thousands of years…”   Francesca Gale Education Development Lead at Wellcome Genome … Continue reading →

It’s your last chance to CHAT with particle physicists this term. The CHAT page is open between 8–9pm. GO TO CHAT ❯ “I’m interested to hear the routes you each took into your current career? My pupils definitely don’t appreciate the wide range of opportunities that studying sciences can provide” Teacher in last week’s session Invite your colleagues along as well. Whether you’ve got ten minutes or the whole hour free, pop in for a chat with five researchers doing fascinating physics: Susan Cartwright Neutrino researcher One exciting thing that has happened fairly recently is the detection of very high energy neutrinos from an active galaxy. This should help us to answer a question that has been puzzling particle physicists and astrophysicists for nearly a century: what is the origin of cosmic rays?   Anne Green Dark matter researcher One of the hottest topics in cosmology at the moment is … Continue reading →

Science moves fast. And few areas moved further in the last century (or needed bigger, more complicated experiments) than Particle Physics. Get answers to your questions about this most ‘elementary’ of fields from the particle physicists themselves. Join tonight’s informal live CHAT session, open from 8-9pm: GO TO CHAT ❯ Join teachers from around Scotland chatting with six particle physicists, including: Lucy Budge PhD Student I’m currently working on collider physics – looking at specific processes that happen when we collide protons at experiments like the LHC at CERN. Specifically I’m studying processes involving the Higgs boson and gluons… Scott Lawrie Particle Accelerator Physicist The machine I help run studied moon rock recently to see if it would make a good bricks to build a moonbase. Imagine a 3D-printed Hobbit-home nestled into a crater, keeping astronauts warm and shielding them from space radiation!… Also online tonight: Anne, Harrison, Savannah, and Susan. Log in … Continue reading →

Science moves fast. And few areas moved further in the last century (or needed bigger, more complicated experiments) than Particle physics. Get answers to your questions about this most ‘elementary’ of fields from the particle physicists themselves. Join tonight’s informal live CHAT session, open from 8pm: Go to CHAT ❯ Join teachers from around Scotland chatting with six particle physicists, including:   Scott Lawrie Particle Accelerator Physicist The machine I help run studied moon rock recently to see if it would make a good bricks to build a moonbase. Imagine a 3D-printed Hobbit-home nestled into a crater, keeping astronauts warm and shielding them from space radiation!…   Susan Cartwright Physics Professor One exciting thing that has happened fairly recently is the detection of very high energy neutrinos from an active galaxy. This should help us to answer a question that has been puzzling particle physicists and astrophysicists for nearly a century: … Continue reading →