According to The Human Genome Project, the human body consists of approximately 20,000 known genes. The genes influence our biology, health, and even behaviour. In her blog, Youth STEMM Award participant Nell explores what she learnt from Wellcome Connecting Science’s video on genes. Read on to learn more.
In the video ‘Genomics Lite: What is a gene?’ from the Wellcome Connecting Science Engage Youtube channel the speaker, Zachary Ardern, goes over what a gene is and our current understanding of them. In this video he mainly uses statistics to support his points about our understanding of genes so far. Ardern was extremely thorough with his explanations and continuously used a calming tone so as to avoid overwhelming the viewer. I would recommend this video to anyone who would like to expand their knowledge of the more complex nature of genes and how they work. For anyone who would like to watch this video the link will be provided here – https://youtu.be/kOZfHOegSfk?si=OEcXfLAUOU2Yq9eH
The presentation was a recording of a live lecture done via PowerPoint with the speaker visible in the corner. On each slide there were pictures along with text. I liked how the illustrations were a mixture of cartoons and real images. These were shown throughout the presentation and helped my understanding of the subject. The video was quite complicated, but the illustrations enabled me to have a better understanding by supplying a pictorial presentation.
I found it most interesting to discover that we do not a have a complete understanding of what a gene is or isn’t. This was surprising as they have been studying genes for multiple centuries and advances in methodology have led to a constantly changing grasp of its definition, and that this is likely to be the case for a long time to come. In my experience, most things studied for the same period of time will have been given a main definition of what they are and a good idea of how they work.
I believe that others may be interested in the complexity that even a small strand of DNA can carry and the differences between the approaches taken throughout history when developing our understanding of something as small as a one hundredth of a millimetre long.
My favourite part was the questions at the end of the video. Arden was honest with his answers, saying when he didn’t know the answer, but also showed his deep understanding of his area of study.
Watch this and other fascinating videos on the Wellcome Connecting Science Engage You Tube Channel to gain hours towards your Youth STEMM Award:
Nell is a year 10 student from Newmarket currently taking part in her Youth STEMM Award. Her main interests are Engineering, Technology and Science.
