Magazine

ARGOS8 variants generated by CRISPR–Cas9 improve maize grain yield under field drought stress conditions.

Rapid identification of lettuce seed germination mutants by bulked segregant analysis and whole genome sequencing.

Genome sequence of Jatropha curcas L., a non-edible biodiesel plant, provides a resource to improve seed-related traits

Whether you’re speaking at a conference or in a lecture theatre – taking some time to brush up your presentation skills will always pay dividends in maximising the impact of your message. At SEB Brighton 2016, we heard from some of the masters in the trade during the “Science Communication Toolkit” session.

At the start of 2020, few people had heard of COVID-19, and fewer still could imagine the world would be facing its most recent global pandemic. As the virus continued to spread, human activity slowed to reduce transmission, making way for the so-called Anthropause. This period presented a unique opportunity to not only understand how humans had affected the environment and its inhabitants, but to also give it some time to recover from previous anthropogenic impacts (e.g. lower carbon emissions).

Organised and presented by Sarah Blackford (Head of Education & Public Affairs, SEB) and Caroline Wood (PhD student, Sheffield University, UK), this year’s pre-conference Careers Day focussed on enhancing careers through extra-research activities and communication.

What are the factors that limit how long we can live for? It’s clear that our bodies wear out over time – but can we reduce this accumulated damage? Certain plants and animals suggest we can, so perhaps we should learn from their strategies.

“ Contrary to what many people think, it’s not all about recreating Jurassic Park!”, so said one of the opening speakers at the session Palaeogenomics and Ancient DNA at the SEB 2017 Annual Meeting in Gothenburg. Nevertheless, ancient DNA is proving to be the master key for unlocking a whole host of mysteries,including human migrations, the spread of disease, the disappearance of mammoths and the environmental effects of past climate change. Crucially, lessons from the past may even help us adapt to the rapidly changing world for the future.

Do you engage with local ethical review of animal use at your establishment? Perhaps it is done by an ethics committee, Animal Welfare Body (AWB), Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB), or Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC). The catch-all term ‘Ethical Review Body’ (ERB) can be used to refer to these institutional committees, or processes, all of which should bring together members with different expertise and perspectives in order to apply local values when considering whether and how animals are used.

Do you work with animals in your research? If so, the SEB+ session in this year’s Annual Meeting was for you! Though animal welfare in research is a prickly topic, it was discussed in a constructive and supportive way, designed to guide animal researchers in ways to improve their animal experiments.

To all SEB Members whatever your discipline, I quote Douglas Adams in the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, “goodbye, and thanks for all the fish!”

One bright, cold January morning, 36 young STEM communicators gathered in ThinkTank, Birmingham’s science museum, to learn from the experiences of five experts. The Little Event, run by the STEM communicators’ network “BIG” is an annual opportunity for early career STEM communicators to develop their skills and build their network. In attendance were a range of up-and-coming communicators ranging from science museum “explainers”, to press officers, to PhD students and postdocs keen to branch out.

In July 2018, a group of experimental physiologists, ecologists and modellers congregated in Florence, Italy for the Animal Biology Satellite Meeting “The height, breadth and depth of physiological diversity: variation across latitudinal, altitudinal and depth gradients”.

This year’s annual ‘Science with Impact’ session featured the usual excellent speaker line-up and, for the first time in its 4-year history, a public audience were invited to join the SEB delegates and participate in the discussions. Chaired by George Littlejohn (SEB+ section chair), our panel first presented their particular perspectives on biodiversity, after which the floor was opened for questions.

Have you ever run a BLAST search, performed a sequence alignment, trawled gene and protein sequence databases or used tools to predict the structure of your favourite protein? Chances are you have done at least one of these things and are therefore part of the bioinformatics revolution that is changing biological research with pace.

Climate change was a naturally prominent theme at this year’s SEB Annual Meeting, inspiring a number of stimulating interdisciplinary sessions. During one of these sessions, the often-overlooked effects of climate change on biomechanics were placed in the spotlight. Attendees were treated to talks on a wide range of exciting research topics covering animal locomotion, anti-predator defences and fascinating biomaterials - here are a few of the highlights.

There was only enough time to take in the penguins when Sarah Morgan (EMBL-EBI) and Gabriella Rustici (University of Cambridge) visited Cape Town for the 2015 GOBLET AGM in November last year and definitely no opportunity to take the cable car up Table Mountain.

An online event initiated by a dedicated group has taken Twitter by storm, forming a new community of Black botanists all over the world. In this article, we talk with two of its founding members: Dr Tanisha Williams and Professor Nokwanda (Nox) Makunga.