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New programme by RSB and ITN Productions highlights the biosciences that impact everyday living
The Royal Society of Biology and ITN Productions Industry News have co-produced a news and current affairs-style programme “Biology Impacting Lives,” reporting on the advancement of biological sciences and their crucial impact. The Royal Society of...
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Six Legs Walking: Notes from an entomological life
Elizabeth Bernays Raised Voice Press, £12.99 Some people are born entomologists and some have entomology thrust upon them. Elizabeth Bernays belongs very much to the former category. In this series of essays, many of which have been published before...
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The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to Save the Planet
Dave Goulson Penguin, £16.99 In The Garden Jungle, Professor Dave Goulson has written what is perhaps his most personal book to date and outlines his perspective on how we can garden for wildlife. Within this book Goulson describes various bugs and...
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RSB voices concern as findings reveal that researchers face “shocking” levels of stress
A new survey has revealed the impact the research environment has on the levels of stress and mental health issues experienced by researchers, which RSB chief executive has described as a real cause for concern. A new survey has revealed the impact the...
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Dogs for Diversity
When university administrators said Joey Ramp could not bring her service dog into the lab, she kitted him out in full protective equipment and fought to overturn their decision. Now she is helping create more inclusive policies on the use of service...
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‘This is perhaps the first organism whose evolutionary history was in a computer’
Michael Levin’s work explores how individual cells co-ordinate into multicellular shapes. As Tom Ireland finds, this has not only led to the creation of ‘living robots’ made entirely from frog cells, but it could be used to repair birth defects,...
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RSB update regarding COVID-19
The RSB has been proactive in ensuring members, stakeholders and staff remain safe during the COVID 19 pandemic, and is monitoring Government advice closely to ensure all decisions are in line with expert advice. For more news and updates from the RSB...
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RSB comments on UK schools to close amid COVID-19 pandemic
All schools are to close in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by the end of this week. All schools are to close in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by the end of this week. Schools may remain open to pupils of keyworkers, with...
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‘This is perhaps the first organism whose evolutionary history was in a computer’
Michael Levin’s work explores how individual cells co-ordinate into multicellular shapes. As Tom Ireland finds, this has not only led to the creation of ‘living robots’ made entirely from frog cells, but it could be used to repair birth defects,...
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“The mobilization of our country’s scientists has been impressive”
Professor Sophien Kamoun, group leader at the Sainsbury Laboratory, discusses how he and his colleagues have pivoted from studying plant pathogens to tracing a human pathogen at the heart of a global emergency, and how scientists unable to access wet...
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"It's almost like 'crowd-science' - which can really accelerate science"
Open Cell’s Thomas Meany on scaling up open-source COVID-19 testing assays – from a lab in a shipping-container to a dedicated space in The British Library. In 2018 Open Cell began transforming empty shipping containers in Shepherd’s Bush, West London,...
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“The collaborative spirit is extraordinary and unprecedented”
Just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, synthetic biologist Imre Berger FRSB and colleagues finished work on synthetic vaccine platform intended for rapidly responding to infectious disease outbreaks. Can you describe what your role...
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Watch your language
Is prejudiced language getting in the way of sound ecological decision-making? June 5th 2020 In 2019, as the Government was drawing up plans for the UK to “take back control of our borders”, British MPs called for a “citizens’ army” to tackle the...
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"The message is clear: no-one should be disadvantaged by this disruption to their education"
The RSB's head of education policy Lauren McLeod looks at the way science education might change and even improve following the extensive disruption this year June 5th 2020 Over a single weekend in March UK schools saw a drastic shift in expectations...
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Futuristic fibres
Jolanta Beinarovica AMRSB explores how synthetic biology is helping produce custom spider silks with a range of extraordinary mechanical and biological properties in quantities that would be impossible to extract from spiders Image courtesy of Adidas/...
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Back to nature
As a UK exam board examines the possibility of a new GCSE in natural history, Helen Robertson explores what the subject is and what it might bring to 21st century pupils June 5th 2020 In 1767 the pioneering naturalist Gilbert White lamented his peers’...
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The fab C4
Could we bioengineer trees to grow quicker and store more carbon? Sophie Young explores the challenges of introducing the more efficient C4 photosynthesis into non-C4 plants June 5th 2020 Of the estimated 435,000 plant species on planet Earth, C4...
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"Species are not 'invading', and recorders are volunteers, not soldiers"
Is prejudiced language getting in the way of sound ecological decision-making? June 5th 2020 In 2019, as the Government was drawing up plans for the UK to “take back control of our borders”, British MPs called for a “citizens’ army” to tackle the...
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Back to my roots
This year has been a strange time for many scientists. So too for Dr Tudor Dawkins FRSB, who has returned to postgraduate research at 64, conducting experiments in his greenhouse at home 1st August 2020 Retirement beckons? For some it’s a time to sit...
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RSB Policy Lates looks at the positives and negatives for research in ‘the COVID era’
The second Policy Lates event to be hosted online saw a panel of experts discuss the strategies and policies driving research on COVID-19. The latest Policy Lates panel, from left: Jackie Hunter, Steve Bates and Curtis Asante Almost 100 people from the...
