Extraordinary Scientists – Lecture on Genetics

Thirty students braved the snow and ice to attend the second of the Extraordinary Scientist lectures of this year. Writer, science communicator and TV presenter, Mr Simon Watt, spoke on ‘Cracking The Code: The Genetics of Superheroes’ which investigated genetics using superheroes. Comic books are filled with mutants; heroes and villains whose special abilities are genetic in their origin but what are real mutants like, and could we one day use genetics to make us superhuman?

The interactive talk saw students playing genetic telephone whispers and Tom Wright as a bacterium and being sprayed with ‘genetic material’. It was a fascinating lecture which provoked much discussion on the ethics of genetic manipulation.