• Question: what is your fave field of science

    Asked by enderking134 to Anna, Chris, Jane, Iain, Nick on 11 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by , , , .
    • Photo: Chris Cole

      Chris Cole answered on 11 Mar 2014:


      Bioinformatics of course! Nowadays biology is a data rich (think Big Data) discipline and in order to make important discoveries requires powerful computers and complex software.

      All aspects of biology benefit from computation – we’re in new age of discovery.

    • Photo: Anna Middleton

      Anna Middleton answered on 12 Mar 2014:


      Hi @enderking134
      My fave field is genetics. But Im most interested in the impact of genetic technology on people rather than the science itself. Just because we can do a genetic test for something, does it mean we should? This is what I research.

      For example, you can do a genetic test to see if someone has a chance of getting breast cancer. Sounds like a good idea because you could then prevent the cancer for happening. But what about testing children or even embryos for the same breast cancer gene?

      Should we get rid of embryos because they have the genes for breast cancer? If the answer is yes, what about every other gene we could test for, there are thousands of them. Where does it end? That’s my fave bit of researching genetics.

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 13 Mar 2014:


      Actually, I really like all areas of science, so there isn’t really one areas that I like more than any other.

    • Photo: Jane Charlesworth

      Jane Charlesworth answered on 18 Mar 2014:


      Evolutionary biology–it’s a great mix of maths and biology. I love trying to think on evolutionary timescales, because most evolution happens so slowly that we can’t even imagine it.

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