Lab life

Expect observations on lab life, fish life and the outside world in this mixed up blog.

The thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are not those of the University of Sheffield or the CDBG, and should not be seen as such.

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Science and cartoons

Two pieces of news caught my eye today; a new mushroom has been described and named, and Sonic the Hedgehog, a video game character is 20 today. Read on to find out what the connection between them is. Opinions are divided, heated debates can be heard in science departments the world over, the bone of contention? Should new genes, species, disease and other discoveries be named in an orderly fashion, or at the whimsy of the discoverer? The privilege of naming a new discovery has long been the reward for diligence and hard work. Immortalizing oneself or an admired contemporary was the traditional choice. But more imaginative choices have also been made.
One of my favourites, and close to my heart, are the members of the hedgehog gene family. The first *Hegehog* gene was discovered in 1978 by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus, in the fruitfly, Drosophila. If Drosophila lack the gene for Hedgehog, they have a thick coat of spikes (called denticles) that reminded the scientists of a hegehog, and so that’s what they named it.
Later, similar genes were found in vertebrates, but instead of there being just one Hedgehog gene, there were multiple, and they needed to be distinguished from each other, two were named after hedgehog species, Indian and Desert, whilst the most famous (and most biologically active) was amusingly named *Sonic*, after the video game character.
		Fruitfly genes provide fertile ground for interesting names, such as the two mutants *amnesiac* and *cheapdate. They’re both have defects in the same gene (called amnesiac), whilst the mutant amnesiac* has memory loss, the change that causes the cheapdate phenotype (physical manifestation of a gene), lowers the fly’s tolerance to alcohol. Other favourites are; methuselah, which increases the lifespan of flies, named after the biblical figure who lived to 969, stargazer mutants look up over and over (due to an affect on the cerubelum) and brainiac flies have much larger brains then normal.
Zebrafish gene names are often imaginative too, such as the class of blood mutants, that were discovered by the Zon lab, which are named after fine wines, such as chardonnay, chablis and merlot (rumour has it that the discoverer of a new gene in the lab is awarded a bottle of the corresponding wine – hence a increase in more obscure and expensive wines as time has gone on!) Understandably perhaps, the penchant for amusing names in science seems be dying out, in favour of methodical, structured naming, saving doctors from having to give the unfortunate news, for example, that a patient has a mutation in swiss cheese (which results in holes in the brain although for the record, I know of no patients that have this mutation!) However, wit amongst scientists has not been lost forever, for today I learned of a new species of mushroom, discovered by researchers from San Fransisco State University, that is shaped like a sea sponge, and was therefore named: Spongiforma squarepantsii after the yellow-marine dwelling-cartoon character. *This makes me happy.*

Why genetics isn't the answer to every question

When I meet someone new, and they ask me what I do, I tend to say I study genetics. It's a word people are familiar with, and they may even have some idea of what it means, but I often find many don't. (If I bring up the zebrafish first, I suspect they go away thinking I'm a marine biologist, after all, it took me a number of years and the establishment of fishforscience to persuade my mother otherwise!)

The media's insistence on saying that any newly discovered gene function means it's the gene 'FOR' something has probably distorted many people's ideas about what genetics is about and what it's really 'FOR'. Although I often talk about the diseases I study, I try and emphasize that the genes aren't there to cause disease, as really the genetic disease is often caused by the lack of the gene. So perhaps the headline should read: "Gene for Health discovered", though I guess that would get repetitive after a while.

In this interesting article from Prof Stephen Jones on the BBC website, he bemoans the newspaper headlines and highlights the many holes we have in our knowledge of what does cause us to be different from each other (whilst still clearly looking like our parents). The bottom line is, that genetics are complicated, and rarely does one gene explain a dramatic change in our appearance or health.

Francis Galton: The man who drew up the 'ugly map' of Britain - By Prof Steve Jones

Fact or Fiction

The lovely science team at the BBC have created another little quiz for us to play with. This one tests your knowledge of fact or fantasy in science.

Click the image to go to the quiz.

As you can see, I did ok, but I'm pretty sure I should have done better! (But I like being a Professor)

I've had a Brainwave

Through the support of the British Science Association and the University of Sheffield a team of enthusiastic scientists, mathematicians, engineers and artists are aiming to bring science to the masses. The Science Brainwaves team take part in heaps of activities in and around Sheffield, and have even been known to escape Yorkshire and have traveled as far as the Brecon Beacons (although I don't think any of them were complaining about running an experimental "Einsteins Kitchen" at the Green Man festival!)

They've been described as Guerrilla scientists, and you can read about them in this article in the Star Newspaper.

If you want to know why dark spirits give you more of a hangover than light coloured ones, or how to extract DNA from a strawberry, these are your guys.

And to find out more about their next few activities take a look at the Brainwaves website.

Know your scientists

Science on TV is absolutely essential, getting the public to understand what, how and why scientists do the work we do is fundamental to ensuring we continue to be supported by public funds. The BBC does a pretty good job of producing science programs, the latest Horizon series has been particularly fantastic. But how well do you know the scientists that have brought us the biggest advances in our knowledge? Why not take their fun why not take their quiz and see how much general knowledge has seeped into your brain? (For the record I only got 5/7, oh dear!)

The BBC also have a lovely page about the scientists that have featured on their shows. Click the image to be taken there.