GATTACA and beyond, but high school students get left behind.

Worryingly, this may be the limit of some students' knowledge about genes (Credit: http://www.offthemark.com/cartoons/genetics)

I consider myself very lucky that I get to work with academics at the cutting edge of science research, as well as with high school students and teachers.

While I get to peer into both the world of university and the world of high school, I appreciate the huge chasm that exists between these two worlds and the lack of communication between them. Academics who teach university students don’t really know what their students have studied in their subjects at high school, and conversely, school teachers don’t know what will be expected of their students at uni. This is a serious problem, considering that more than 50% of high school graduates proceed to study at university.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the current syllabuses for science are worryingly outdated compared with our current knowledge and research focuses. As schools get ready to introduce a new Australian curriculum over the next few years, it will be interesting to see how much “new” genetics students will be required to learn.

It is understandable that high school science syllabuses can’t keep up with all new discoveries as they happen. It takes time to develop a new syllabus, and even more time for teachers to become familiar enough with a syllabus to be able to teach it confidently.

Nevertheless, for genetics and molecular biology in particular, there is a shamefully long lag time between the publication of discoveries in scientific articles and when they finally feature in school text books.

High school genetics is, unfortunately, stuck in a strange time warp. Techniques, such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), don’t even rate a mention in today’s HSC Biology syllabus, despite revolutionising the field of genetics when it was developed in 1983.

The absence of any reference to PCR in the HSC Biology syllabus means that Year 12s will sadly never appreciate lame genetics cartoons like this one (Credit: http://www.yalescientific.org/tag/cartoon/)

The limit of many students’ understanding by the end of Year 12 is that blue eye colour is determined by whether you have one or two copies of the recessive allele. Most students have no appreciation that characteristics encoded by a single gene locus are the exception rather than the rule, and some characteristics can be encoded by hundreds of different gene loci.

While students learn about the Darwin’s theory of evolution, they are totally unaware of recent major paradigm shifts in genetics, such as the emergence of epigenetics in the early 2000s. Epigenetics is the study of the dynamic system that encodes gene expression in a cell, and provides a mechanism to explain how environmental effects on phenotype can be inherited from generation to generation. I dare say that even most high school teachers, let alone their students, are unaware that Lamarck’s theories have enjoyed this new lease on life.

More advanced concepts, such as the Human Genome Project and gene cloning, are covered in the genetics option module in the HSC Biology syllabus. However, few schools select to teach this option to their students, because it is more difficult than the other option modules.

I can appreciate that genetics is a difficult subject to study for many students, and sometimes a difficult subject to teach. However, I don’t think the solution is to teach content that is so simplified and watered down that it is almost irrelevant and incorrect. The result is students who really struggle to study any sort of genetics or molecular biology in first year university.

I really hope to see a properly updated genetics section of the Australian Biology curriculum when the final draft is released. It may also require some significant professional development for teachers to update them on our current understanding of genetics. Finally, it will be crucial to update the new syllabus every year or two to incorporate new examples of current research, to ensure we don’t end up with the problem of a syllabus that is up to 20 years out of date in 20 years time.

Yabbies eat kangaroos in the name of science

Yabbies are well-fed at ANSTO (Photo credit: www.ctpetclub.com)

To find out who eats what in wetland ecosystems, ANSTO scientists have been feeding some very lucky yabbies a strict diet of kangaroo and lamb. Weird, I know, but I explain why in my article on the ANSTO website.

Climate change stunts your growth - if you're an Antarctic moss

A juvenile fur seal reclines on coastal moss in Secluded Bay, Antarctica. Photo credit: Rob Brandle (www.antarctica.gov.au)

While the fur pup can't help being the star of this picture, the mosses underneath the seal can live for more than 100 years.

Read my article on the ANSTO website to find out why Antarctic mosses can be used to monitor changes in climate.

Humans linked to extinction of megafauna in Tasmania

Source: http://rhamphotheca.tumblr.com/post/14491093518/a-marsupial-lion-thylacoleo-carnifex-chases-down


In the picture above, a marsupial lion chases down giant kangaroos (Protemnodon sp.) during the pleistocene epoch of Australia.


Marsupial lions may not have been the only hunters of giant kangaroos and other megafauna, with new evidence suggesting that Tasmanian megafauna became extinct soon after humans arrived from the Australian mainland. Read more about it in my article here on the ANSTO website.

They found a Higgs what?

I'm no physicist, so when I heard this afternoon that scientists had used the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland to find the Higgs Boson, I immediately looked for some explanation of this that I could understand.

This video cartoon by Jorge Cham (of PhD Comics fame) is pretty good - at the very least, I now feel like I have some idea of what's going on now!



The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.

UNSW - now smoke-free!

With the usual controversy that surrounds new smoking restrictions, UNSW became a smoke-free environment on July 1, 2012.

Smokers must now go to one of four designated smoking areas on campus to light up, allowing non-smoking staff and students to breathe more easily. I spoke with Professor Nick Zwar, an academic in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at UNSW, about the new restrictions. Read more in my article here.

Radiocarbon dating: How does it work?

Radiocarbon dating can be used to determine the age of organic materials, including wooden artefacts, fabrics and human or animal remains. 

I explain how this technique works here on the ANSTO website.

Bilax your bowels

This week in "Old Pills for Odd Ills" we feature Bilax, formerly known as Doan's Dinner Pills. Read more about Bilax here.

It seems folk were quite preoccupied about their bowel activity in the 1900s, since Bilax is yet another laxative in the museum's collection.

Ironically, while newspaper advertisements heralded the gentle action of Bilax, it is thought that one of the ingredients in the pills, podophyllin, may have caused haemorrhoids in regular users.

KAG antiseptic: Think Dettol, but a hundred years ago

In the 1900s, people found 31 different uses for KAG antiseptic, a combination of alcohol and chlorine bleach, which claimed to "kill all germs".

Year 10 student Joshua Collis-Bird wrote our "Old pills for odd ills" installment for this week, which you can read here.

According to the pamphlet inside the box, KAG could be used for the following:

1. For the mouth and teeth
2. For cleansing dental plates
3. For sterilising tooth brushes
4. For stopping sore throats
5. For cold in the head, catarrh and influenza
6. For cleansing and healing cuts and wounds
7. For skin troubles, rashes, bed sores, boils, carbuncles, eczema, bad legs
8. For chilblains
9. For hives, heat rash and insect bites
10. For scabies or itch
11. For feminine hygiene
12. For destroying perspiration odours
13. For the bath
14. For perspiring or aching feet
15. For the relief of piles
16. For warts
17. For exterminating vermin
18. For cleansing brushes and combs
19. For cleansing and sterilising feeding bottles, milk bottles, milk cans
20. For shaving water
21. For sterilising the hands
22. For sick-room hygiene, sterilising bed pans and urinals
23. For sterilising linen, underwear, diapers, napkins
24. For removing stains
25. After teeth extraction
26. For sunburns
27. As a veterinary disinfectant
28. For drains, dust bins and bad smells
29. For freshening and sterilising air
30. For purifying drinking water and water tanks
31. Preserving meat, fish, bacon, hams and poultry in the home

Greathead's Mixture - the great Australian con

You've probably never heard of it, but just like the Hills Hoist and Vegemite, Greathead's Mixture is a quintessentially Australian invention.

Patented in 1875, this mixture was advertised as a treatment for diphtheria, scarlet fever and other ills, but it's claims of efficacy were controversial amongst medical professionals, to say the least. Read more about Greathead's Mixture here.

The bionic eye - coming soon to a face near you

Bionic Vision Australia plans to start human trials of the first prototype of the bionic eye next year. Read about how the bionic eye will work here

"Old pills for odd ills" - Confection of Senna

Our latest installment of "Old pills for odd ills" features another laxative, called Confection of Senna. Either constipation was quite the problem in the early 20th century, or perhaps this was one of the few maladies that medicine at the time could successfully treat!

 

 

No wonder this concoction worked the way it did - a combination of powdered leaves, coriander oil, licorice extract, fig and prune juice would get anyone's guts going.

Use woods toothpaste for white teeth and mouth cancer

 A container of Woods Areca Nut Toothpaste at the Museum of Human Disease

Woods Areca Nut toothpaste, sold in Europe during the late 19th century, was made from the pulverised charcoal of betel nuts, also known as areca nuts. While the toothpaste turned teeth black during use, it reduced the incidence of dental decay. I've posted an information sheet here about the history of areca nut toothpaste.

Chewing red betel nut fruit is custom in many Asian and Oceanic countries for it's mild stimulant effect. However, the practice is now widely discouraged, as the carcinogenic properties of the betel nut places regular chewers at risk of mouth and oesophageal cancer.

Stick it up your nose!

This week in "Old Pills for Odd Ills", we take a closer look at an old nasal douche on display in the Museum of Human Disease. Read the article by guest blogger Ruth Miller here

Old Pills for Odd Ills - Pinkettes

Try Pinkettes for laxative perfection!

Read the next installment of our "Old pills for odd ills" series here

Australians confused by antibiotics

Let's say you're sick. Runny nose, cough, sore throat, fever, headache - the works. You've got a cold. Not a mild one, but not as bad as the flu.

Do you need antibiotics? Would you ask your doctor for a script for them? A recent survey by the National Prescribing Service reveals that many Australians misuse antibiotics because they don't understand how they work. Not only that, our ignorance is contributing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Read my full article here.

"Have a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down"

Read the first installment of our "Old pills for odd ills" series at the Museum of Human Disease. This article about Bex powders was written by guest blogger Ruth Miller.

TB or not TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), live in approximately one in three people worldwide. The bacteria can lie latent inside the body for decades until it becomes active in 10% of infected people. Active TB kills one person every 20 seconds.


Efforts to control the spread of TB received a much-needed boost last Tuesday when Sydney's Centenary Institute opened a new $1.2 million high biosecurity lab for tuberculosis research.

The new laboratory is fitted with airlocks and researchers must wear full biocontainment suits when handling and culturing the deadly bacteria.

Read more about the new laboratory and about tuberculosis in my recent article here

New job, new material

As part of my new job as an education officer at the Museum of Human Disease at the University of New South Wales, I'll be writing about current research and news about health and disease.

These articles will be posted on the Museum's website and are intended for a general audience as well as a resource for teachers and high school students.

The first article discusses two recent cases of typhoid at the Christmas Island detention centre. While the risk of the disease spreading was very small, these cases caused panic within the detention centre and in the residential areas of the island.



Interesting fact: People can carry and spread the bacteria (Salmonella typhi) that causes typhoid without displaying symptoms. One of the most notorious asymptomatic carriers of typhoid was Mary Mallon, known as Typhoid Mary.

During her career as a cook in the United States between 1900 and 1915, Mary is thought to have infected 53 people, three of whom died of the disease. She spent the last 23 years of her life quarantined in isolation to prevent her from spreading the disease to others.