South Africa's aspirations in health-related biotechnology

This was the basic question underlying discussions held by the newly formed Africa Genetics & Biotechnology Network during a two-day 'Colloquium on Building Interdisciplinary Support for Biotechnology and the New Genetics in Africa.'

The Colloquium was attended by representatives from East, South, and West Africa that included genetic scientists, social scientists, science journalists, science communicators, public education experts, as well as other experts with experience of multidisciplinary research. The attendees discussed: the most important ethical, legal, and social issues facing Africa in relation to biotechnology; how to enhance communications between scientists and science journalists; incentives for scientists to communicate their work publicly; and how the new network could act as focus for inter-disciplinary and public discussion of the issues arising from genetics.

A newly-created website will be launched shortly providing resources for genetic scientists, journalists, and the general public wishing to understand more about the significant challenges and opportunities facing Africa in relation to genetic science and biotechnology. The Colloquium was hosted by the AGEI along with Innogen, and was sponsored by the British Council as part of its English Africa Partnerships programme in Higher Education.

Nice, but does it reproduce?

Millions of people turn on the ignition of their cars every day and have little idea of what it is they are setting in motion.

Nor do they really need to know, for the successful navigation of the modern car requires the simplest of co-operative actions involving the eyes, hands, feet and, of course, the brain, aided by elementary information-providing instruments in the form of the speedometer (measures wheel rotation), a revolution counter (engine rotation), temperature (engine coolant temperature) and the fuel gauge.

Many other measuring instruments are possible, but these are what carmakers think are essential for the modern driver to use. In the age of expert knowledge we have deferred to engineers the knowledge of how the car works.

A deeper understanding of the engineering of the modern car and the principles of physics and chemistry on which it is based help enormously in using and maintaining the car properly, of applying the tens to hundreds of actions in a single drive with the knowledge of how it all works and hangs together. Mechanical things are easily abused as a result of ignorance, compromising thereby their market value, reliability, durability and lifespan. There are the simple things of not, for example, in a car with manual transmission, unnecessarily slipping a clutch and prematurely wearing it down; or having a car in the right gear at the right moment in order not to either labour or exceed the top-end capacity of the internal combustion engine, compromising its efficiency and shortening its life; or using both the gears and brakes to decelerate the vehicle, saving on the brake-pad wear; and there are many other examples beyond normal maintenance of how a deeper knowledge of how things work can make you a good driver and take better care of what is after all a human piece of engineering.

The work of a male ...

Men are designed to make nests. Women are designed to cuddle-up in them. Some men do not make nests. Some women do not lie in them. Modern industrial life provides the technology to free men and women from their evolutionarily constrained roles and made nest-making an intellectual task for some and a practical task for others.

Still, our lives still go in cycles of nest-making and nesting and all of the traumas and joys that go with it. We are technologically far more sophisticated than birds in some respects but we pretty much behave like them, the men – and increasingly the women -- spending the working hours earning enough money to pay for the nest and all of the material stuff we put in them.

Environmental events trigger very specific nest-supporting events. The onset of winter drive us inside, preferably into a cacoon of warmth. In earlier times we retreated into caves kept warm by wood-kindled fires. That is why there is no greater sense of dream-like comfort than kindling the campfire, with the dog our early warning signal friend lying in proximity, on the watch.