Health NewsGijs van Rooijen leads discussion on 21st century – Genomics!
On August 6 Gijs van Rooijen, will lead a presentation and discussion on what may be the most important issue of the 21st century – genomics at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. Dr. van Rooijen is Genome Alberta’s Chief Science Officer. Whether a large audience, or in a one on one discussion, Gijs van Rooijen will convey to you his enthusiasm and wide-spread knowledge. You will come away from this presentation with an excellent understanding of this new century’s hottest scientific topic.
Saxons, Vikings and Celts - History, Archeology and Genomics all together in one!
I was pleasantly surprised recently at the University of Calgary Bookstore where I found a significant number of new books on genomics written for the keen, but non-specialist reader. A day later, I was in the Chapters.indigo bookstore, and they too had an array of new books in this field. I thought to myself what a significant change from a few years ago when all the books seemed to be on quantum astronomy. It would be interesting to track the changes in what is deemed by the public as the “cool” science at any one time. The rise of Biotechnology is certainly something predicted as early as 1993 by Paul Kennedy in his book “Preparing for the 21st Century”.
Admittedly, if I were to look at my own personal library, I find books on genetics that date back to such classics as James Watson’s 1968 book “The Double Helix”, John Gibbin’s 1985 “In Search of the Double Helix” and Matt Ridley’s 1999 “Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters” There probably has always been great genetics books out there, but right now the bookstores stock and feature a bigger selection of topical books on the subject.
Needless to say, I came away from those bookstores loaded down with my summer reading. As difficult as it was to make the choice, the first book I spent time on was Bryan Sykes book Saxons, Vikings and Celts. My interest in this book was related to my initial fascination with the BBC series called The Blood of the Vikings. Released in 2001, I found the series to be a perfect summation of the power of genetics to solve problems in other areas of inquiry.
Attending the Funding Announcement
“Matter Cycles, Energy flows” goes the old saying in ecology, and when all the operational definitions are in place it makes perfect sense. Yesterday I attended a Federal Government funding announcement made in the foyer of the Alastair Ross Technology Centre by Minister of State Diane Ablonczy. She made an announcement on behalf of Jim Prentice, Minister of State. In research, cash provides for the energy which really matters to move major projects forward.
What if it were possible to find, collect, discover, isolate or genetically engineer a microbe with the ability to sequester CO2 in a reduced form (like methane) which could then be oxidized back to CO2 generating power. It would not be a perpetual motion machine, but it would be darn close.