Three Parent Embyros - What Do You Think?

Scientists are perfecting methods for creating embryos containing DNA from three parents.  It is thought that these techniques will help to prevent several rare genetic disorders passed on through mitochondrial DNA.

Your mitochondria contain a small number of genes and are inherited from your mother.  It is thought that diseases such as muscular dystrophy and some cancers are inherited through these genes.

Scientists have developed techniques for taking chromosomes from a mother’s egg (which house approximately 99.8% of her DNA) and placing them in a donor egg from which the chromosomes have been removed but which has healthy mitochondrial DNA.

See "Three Parent Embryos" for more information.

Acid and Bases - extra help

You've heard about pH in biology, you've calculated it in math, and you're using it in chemistry...acids and bases are everywhere!

Want some more practice on pH to [H+] conversions? Check out this helpful site.

Testing Your Pee? - There's An App For That!!

A new app will be available on iTunes this month that can test your urine for health problems.  The UChek app was developed by Mumbai’s Myshkin Ingawale and uses your smartphone’s camera to test colour changes in your urine at set points in the day.  No need to fret if you don’t have an iPhone – an Android version is in the works!  Check out the details - UChek Urinalysis

A Life-Changing Project

Take a look at this amazing video about Jane Chen whose class project led her to become the co-founder and CEO of Embrace which designs low-cost and low-tech medical technology.  A class project led to the creation of "infant warmers" that can save lives in areas where high-tech incubators are not available. 

Where will your classes and ideas take you?