Pint of Science Special: Science under a Lens - Norwich Science Festival

Every cell in a living organism has the same DNA, like a master recipe book. But it’s the RNA, made from this recipe, that acts as specific instructions for each cell. In plants, RNA is what guides cells to become part of a flower, a leaf, or a root. Thanks to new advanced microscopy techniques, we can now peer inside individual cells to see the RNA at work and pinpoint where hundreds of different RNA types are located all at once. At the John Innes Centre and Earlham Institute in Norwich, we use this knowledge to uncover how plants grow and develop their intricate floral structures.

Have you ever wondered if bacteria could tell time? It might seem like an odd idea, but the answer is that these microscopic organisms have internal biological clocks just like we do! Our research at the John Innes Centre has shown us that bacteria from the soil can indeed keep time, and that their biological clocks control their growth and development. To study this in our lab at the John Innes Centre, we engineer bacteria that light up like tiny light bulbs, allowing us to easily visualise these rhythms. Come along to see some bacterial biological clocks for yourself, learn more about the microbial world, and what this means for us.

Deep inside ourselves we find intimations of a spiritual side to human existence. In the objective world of science, it can be argued that nothing in our modern understanding in any way undermines a position of faith in God. Equally, nothing in the fundamental nature of belief in God need weaken confidence in the validity and progress of science. Far from undermining any meaning to our lives, fundamental science entirely supports the credibility of a Creator God, responsible for the very laws that science has been unravelling over many centuries. Those same underlying laws may reveal principles pointing to spiritual truth.