Opinion
‘Use CRISPR-Cas to make the world a little better!’
In June, the European Parliament approved the new European regulation on New Genomic Techniques. This finally opens the door to using CRISPR-Cas to make targeted improvements to crop traits, writes John van der Oost.
A trace of ancient human?
A horse comes towards me in the street. There is a lady on its back. I greet her and she halts right in front of me. From her elevated position she tells me I must remove the yellow flowers from my garden. I cannot recall ever having seen her before.
The Dogger Bank deserves real protection at last
Following two court rulings, Dutch trawl fishers are no longer permitted to fish on the Dogger Bank without a licence. It is a breakthrough that offers major opportunities for the recovery of marine life at the heart of the North Sea, argue Emilie Reuchlin and Milo Laureij of the Doggerland Foundation.
Boomerangs, bananas, and tampon instruction leaflets
Last week, the Ig Nobel celebration came to Leiden. Not for the presentation of the new prizes, but simply to host a fun event with founder Marc Abrahams, Dutch prize winners, and local scientists.
The David Attenborough effect: how one man makes the natural world unmissable
When I was ten years old, David Attenborough personally ensured that I would go on to study biology. On cable television I watched orcas sprint onto a beach. In black and white – I noticed later, in colour, that this makes little difference for orcas in Patagonia – the limp bodies of sea lions flew through the air. The next day I told my classmates what I had seen on television. To my surprise, none of them watched nature documentaries. David's seemingly endless series kindled the biologist in me.
When helping isn’t helping
The attempts to rescue the humpback whale Timmy show that animals in distress stir emotions, whilst the reflex to intervene is not always the...
A cry for recognition
The sixth edition of the European Seagull Crying Championship took place last Sunday in Belgium. A competition that is simultaneously light-hearted and deadly serious,...
Griet is gone
Griet is dead. Griet was a chicken. For three years we had four, and for the past eighteen months we had seven. Now there...
The obsession with what is ‘natural’ rests on a misconception
In discussions around gender and sex, some biologists argue that nature is binary: either male or female, and heterosexual. Variations on this are unnatural....
Nutrient-rich mudflats in the Western Scheldt are under threat
In the Western Scheldt, nutrient-rich mudflats are gradually turning into salt marshes, causing the loss of vital foraging habitat for millions of wading birds....