Phylloxera and the grapevine: a sense of common purpose?

The purpose of life is its continuation: survival is the reason things live. Here we explore this 'basic' of biology, by reference to the extraordinary life-cycle of the aphid-like pest phylloxera, and the complexity of its relationship with its host the grapevine. The effort and ingenuity that phylloxera employs to continue itself leads to a doubt that survival alone is sufficient reason. It has frequently been suggested that the reduction of life to a catalogue of facts (by science) creates this doubt, because it robs existence of its essence (which is something other than its mechanics). The part that science is said to steal is what Robert Pirsig calls Quality-the harmonious balance of things. Pirsig seems to imply that this is something inherent in things-and independent from us. A more mundane explanation is that the difference between facts and the complete reality is us-the tendency of mind to connect freely between different kinds of information. This possibility is briefly illustrated here by a myth based on the facts of phylloxera.

Flies in the face of adversity

All organisms face attack from many natural enemies and all in turn have some means of defence. Can resistance evolve, and if it can, why doesn't it? Recent work on fruit flies and their parasitic wasps has shed light on these questions

Reflections on designing a Biology/Humanities interdisciplinary module

This paper uses the reflections of a recent workshop on biology and the humanities subject areas to consider the potential for designing a first year interdisciplinary module that brings together teachers and learners in the Biosciences with their counterparts in English and History. It considers three building blocks of module design: aims and objectives; teaching and learning strategies; and assessment; and provides a commentary on the discussion of interdisciplinarity in the broader literature. The authors argue that interdisciplinary teaching and learning must be transformative, but not in the way many previous advocates of interdisciplinarity have assumed. Rather than transcending disciplines, the authors contend that the aim should be to enhance disciplinary understanding. Learners should emerge from the interdisciplinary module not having lost their identity as biologists, but having enhanced it. They should have become ‘better’ biologists in the sense of having developed a broader, critical understanding of the precepts of their discipline, as a first step to an understanding of biology inflected with a literary and historical awareness.

Future issues with robots and cyborgs

In this article, four different practical experiments in robotics and human/machine merger are firstly described and then considered with regard to their ethical implications. Results from the experiments are discussed in terms of their meaning and application possibilities. The article is written from the perspective of scientific experimentation, opening up realistic possibilities to be faced in the future rather than giving conclusive comments on the technologies employed. Human implantation and the merger of biology and technology are key elements.

A new parenthood paradigm for twenty-first century family law in England and Wales?

There are few other areas in family law where incongruence between the legal and social positions is as evident as that concerning parenthood. Recent cases involving lesbian couples and known sperm donors serve to highlight the increasing tension between the respective roles of biology, intention and functional parenting in the attribution of legal parental status. As both legislative and case-law developments have shown, intention is central in some circumstances, but not in others. The main claim of this paper is that this ad hoc approach leads to incoherent and unsatisfactory law: instead of striving to identify a status, what we are really looking to do is to identify the people who assume responsibility for a child. Drawing upon recent case-law, this paper explores how a conceptual reform of the law could result in a principled framework which would place formally recognised intention at the heart of parental status in order to reconnect legal duty with social reality for as many children and parents as possible. Moreover, it would ensure that parental status would not be dictated by the mode of conception of the child (natural or assisted). The analysis identifies the objectives of reform before proposing a new model which, while recognising the social importance of the biological parentage link, would reserve legal status for functional parenthood.

Cyborgs in space

Practical realisation of Cyborgs opens up significant new opportunities in many fields. In particular when it comes to space travel many of the limitations faced by humans, in stand-alone form, are transposed by the adoption of a cyborg persona. In this article a look is taken at different types of Brain-Computer interface which can be employed to realise Cyborgs, biology-technology hybrids. e approach taken is a practical one with applications in mind, although some wider implications are also considered. In particular results from experiments are discussed in terms of their meaning and application possibilities. e article is written from the perspective of scientific experimentation opening up realistic possibilities to be faced in the future rather than giving conclusive comments on the technologies employed. Human implantation and the merger of biology and technology are though important elements.

Polymer protected gold nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization and application in catalysis

This review discusses the stabilization of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by nonionic, anionic, cationic and amphoteric polymers. The protocols used for synthesis of AuNPs in aqueous and organic solvents are described. Size, shape and morphology of AuNPs are characterized by various physicochemical methods. Application aspects of polymer-protected AuNPs in catalysis are outlined.