Spider Goat, Spider Goat

<b>Does what ever a Spider Goat does. </b>

I watched this programme on BBC2 and I was amazed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b45zh

They have massive leaps forward in genetic engineering. To the point where they can take genes from a spider that control the manufacture of silk. Implant the genes into a goat so that the goat will produces spider web silk proteins in it's milk. After milking they separate the silk from the milk and we are left with a method of mass producing an incredibly strong natural substance that could be used in a massive range of medical breakthroughs. Spider Goat silk may help treat medical conditions that currently stump us.

The programme goes on to explore synthetic life and all the crazy stuff that kitchen and garage biologists are up to. Everything from creating artificial glowing bacteria (previously Nobel prize winning work, now average first starters play experiment) to creating artificial squid skin on a metal plate.

The entire biological science landscape has changed. The show highlights dozens of potential amazing benefits and does a good job of balancing this by considering the possible dangerous negative consequences. The ball just appears to be starting to roll. Just like the explosion on IT I think we will see an equally dramatic society changing growth in the bio tech field.

Comments

Fishkeeping in a Cambodian Rice Field

Improving subsistence farmers diet with fish husbandry in Cambodia How can a bunch of fish ponds make a real difference? This summer I am travelling around South-East Asia, including Cambodia. In Cambodia I will be visiting some NGOs and voluntary aid projects . I meet with our main contact this week and most of the work is focused on people projects, teaching English, prison visits , drug addiction etc but they mentioned one project where they help rice farmers start fish husbandry projects. These projects are designed to help the local subsistence farmers grow on fish to adult size for increasing the protein component of their diet. Being interested in all forms of fish keeping I hope that when we travel to Cambodia I can visit the project or at least meet up with the team managing the project. It sounds like a fascinating and practical way to help some of the worlds poorest improve th...

Fish growing in an elephants footprint

Killifish are beautiful and fascinating After watching this video they have now moved up to the top of my Fish wish list . Next time I get to set up a new tank these will be in it! Currently I am not sure if I would want to start with an annual or a non-annual variety but I am very attracted to the colouration of the Blue Lyretail . These small fish seem both tough and clever at avoiding predators (see the water scorpion in video), catching prey and breeding. The video shows some annual Killifish displaying there amazing ability to have eggs laid in damp mud wait for water to return and then hatch. This curious ability allows these fish to thrive in areas with varying water levels. Their annual breeding ability also allows their eggs to be swapped, traded and sent by post between breeder and collectors both across a country and internationally. Their annual nature greatly appeals to me as a project that allows me to view a compl...

<b>Full to the top or a ghost town</b> For the first time in my professional career I ran an open community youth club on Halloween. Normally Halloween falls during school half term and as we follow school opening it has never happened before. We opened knowing that Halloween may have unusual impacts on numbers. We didn't know if the festival would encourage lots of people out of houses and therefore increase numbers or would people all have parties to attend and trick or treating to do and therefore decrease numbers? We opened the club not knowing what to expect in attendance or behaviour. After being open for 30 minutes we had our answer. No one was coming. Not a single young person walked through our door. Our club was empty so we went out and did some detached youth work. We learnt a lesson about working on Halloween. But this night got me thinking is it better to have too few or too many young people in a youth club? When you have too many young people in a youth ...

BlindFish Ideas

Search This Blog