if u werent researching what you are now, what would you research instead?

Question: if u werent researching what you are now, what would you research instead?

Asked by jonbanfield to Louise, Michaela, Sian, Steve, Yvette on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: About.
- Michaela Livingstone answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  I’m really interested in something called epigenetics – this term covers different things that effect how the DNA is read and so forth, but without changing the sequence of the DNA itself. This includes things like chemical groups being added to the DNA which effectively turns of the genes in that modified region of DNA, but also a whole host of different chemical groups added to the proteins that package up your DNA so it can fit in the cell. The changes are subject to changed in the environment and add another whole level of complexity on to how your genes work!! ‘Epigenetic factors’, as they’re known as, can play a huge role in creating the differences between members of the same species. And you know identical twins? They have EXACTLY the same genetic code, but they’re not always exactly the same? It must be something other than the DNA sequence that leads to the differences, so epigenetics must play a role, as you’d imagine their environments are very similar. Epigenetics could also play a role in helping tell cells which genes to have on or off, and all sorts – that could affect not only you now, but also when you were developing as an embryo! Very complicated but every interesting stuff!!
- Steven Kiddle answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  I have no idea, but i am interested in physics and neuroscience
- Louise Johnson answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  Ants. They’re so amazing! There’s an ant that wears mites as shoes, and there are ants that build suspension bridges out of their own bodies, and there are ants that farm aphids like we farm cows, and there are ants that collect dark bits of grit to build their anthills out of so they warm up faster in the sun. Think about it – they’ve got clothing, engineering, agriculture and solar power!
  
  If it had to be outside biology, I’d be an astronomer and work on interstellar dust clouds because nobody really knows what goes on inside them.
- Yvette Wilson answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  I think I would be researching a different aspect of plant genetics. I would probably go back to some unanswered questions from my PhD – what happens when two very different plant species hybridise with each other and is such hybridisation beneficial to plant populations?

Question: if u werent researching what you are now, what would you research instead?

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