Day: February 28, 2018

Engineering, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment

Discovery of DNA double helix – 65th anniversary of Crick and Watson’s landmark work – an annotated infographic

E&T magazine

The 65th anniversary of the publication of the structure of DNA by James D. Watson, Francis H.C. Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins takes place as scientists debate the ethics of new gene editing techniques. It was Saturday lunchtime on February 28, 1953, when two Cambridge University scientists pushed open the doors of The Eagle, a favourite pub for researchers at the nearby Cavendish laboratory. The duo, 25-year-old American bacteriologist and birdwatcher James Watson and Francis Crick, a 37-year-old British physicist, announced that they had unravelled the double helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, saying: “We have discovered the secret … Continue reading Discovery of DNA double helix – 65th anniversary of Crick and Watson’s landmark work – an annotated infographic

Engineering, TechnologyLeave a comment

New generation of plant breeding – GMO crops in the dock – an annotated infographic

E&T magazine

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) – the highest court within the European Union – is to rule on whether crops developed using so-called “New Breeding Techniques” like CRISPR/Cas are the same as those achieved through traditional plant breeding. The ECJ decision, expected in the coming weeks, follows a request by the French Council of State, on behalf of the Confédération Paysanne, for a legal ruling over whether organisms obtained by “mutagenesis” are exempt from the EU’s Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Directive. In 2001, the EU directive defined genetic modification as inserting DNA of one organism into another but opened … Continue reading New generation of plant breeding – GMO crops in the dock – an annotated infographic