Wrapping up the week

• 

• 

• 

Here are the stories we think our educated, thoughtful readership might like to browse . We hope you all have a relaxed Saturday evening

We thought that the Industrial Revolution was so clever…but ever since, we have been pumping out heavy metals in dangerously worrying quantities. Where has all that lead, cadmium and dozens of other heavy metals gone? Creatures like scallops may be humble enough, but they are vital indicators of trouble brewing in the medium term. Read Brice Stewart and Roland Kroger in The Conversation. Metal pollution, especially lead, is a subject we will return to here.

https://theconversation.com/metal-pollution-is-leaving-scallops-helpless-against-crabs-and-lobsters-149410?utm_

While the mass of humanity struggle in their pointless webs of identities and animosity, we know the real future is being written elsewhere, in places like CRISPR laboratories. If only more people knew what is coming!

In Editing Humanity, Kevin Davies maps the twists and turns of the CRISPR journey, with an all-star cast of scientists and an intimate understanding of the tale. But Davies leaves some thorny ethical issues uncharted, writes reviewer Natalie Kofler, the founding director of Editing Nature, a platform to support responsible decisions about genetic engineering.Nature | 5 min read

Test’n’trace ,test’n’trace, test’n’trace….surely it can only get better? As long as we know what the tests are telling us, especially the newwer rapid ones. Nature takes a good look of its own

Rapid COVID-19 tests, which can deliver results in a matter of minutes rather than days, are starting to become widely available. Nature Biotechnology explores the different types of tests, what they can and can’t do, and lists the tests available and in development.
Nature Biotechnology | 10 min read

And finally……..before all those modern digitised computer graphics, if you wanted to see dinosaurs or Greek monsters running around, your go to man was Ray Harryhausen. Anyone over fifty will remember his work, and if it looks a bit artificial by modern standards, it was always beloved as a great try. Here Jason Gilchrist of the University of Edinburgh pens a heartfelt tribute for The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/monsters-movies-and-biomechanics-celebrating-ray-harryhausen-149297?utm_medium

#rayharryhausen #testandtrace #covid19 #sarscov2 #coronavirus #CRISPR #heavymetals #pollution