• Question: i read a book about the top 100 things that will influence the future it was by steven harking i was inspired by dna altering but whats your top thing that you think will change the future

    Asked by dakingy to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 11 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Hi Dakingy- I am glad you managed to post a question after the chat session this morning.

      I am also inspired by DNA and think it will change the future. One day you will be able to go to your doctor and he/she will be able to look at your genetic readout to predict which diseases you are most at risk from. Then you will get advice on what to eat, how much exercise to take and maybe specially developed drugs to prevent disease that exactly meets the needs of your body based on your genetics.

    • Photo: Susan Skelton

      Susan Skelton answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Hi Dakingy!

      I agree that DNA is really amazing!

      I am totally inspired by nano science and nano engineering – the control of matter on an ultra-small scale – around 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

      Nanotechnology stretches across the whole spectrum of science, touching medicine, physics, engineering and chemistry.

      For example, scientists, are looking at whether nano science could be used to improve the delivery of cancer fighting drugs and are examining whether nanoscale carbon could be used to increase the power and speed of computer circuits.

      It is my dream to invent tiny nano robots that could travel inside the body and cure disease – that would be really amazing!

    • Photo: Rachel Dakin

      Rachel Dakin answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Hi Dakingy,
      Sounds like a great book – I’ll need to read it 🙂

      I LOVE DNA too….it’s so amazing to think that every living thing can be made from a series of letters (bases). What’s even more interesting is that only about 2% of your DNA actual codes for proteins. The rest of it is still really important though. It can send messages that change how much of a protein is made or even turn a gene on or off. Scientists have got very interested in these bits of the DNA recently – they are known as non-coding DNA. The non-coding regions of DNA might be playing a role in diseases.
      I have to agree DNA is going to be very important in the future. Partly because I’m sure there’s still lots more that we don’t know about it.

      I think another major influence of the future will be new types of fuels. The world is using more and more energy. Research and understanding of everything – science, history, languages – require power. To keep understanding more about the way we work and the world we live in we need a long term source of energy and safe ways to deal with the waste products.

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