Update

Watch Perfect Protists and Team Marine on Genomics Lite

[caption id="attachment_6381" align="alignright" width="220"] Joanna Harley, from Team Marine, is one of the scientists taking part in Session 4[/caption]This Thursday’s Genomics Lite webinar is all about careers. Learn more about careers and routes into the biodiversity and evolution fields, and put your questions to people who’ve been in your shoes.

Session 4 will take place on Thursday 8 July, from 4.30pm to 5.30pm. Register now ❯ Continue reading →

Posted on July 6, 2021 by modjosie in Update | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Time to get quizzical…

It’s that time again! We have a brand new set of quiz questions for you. Our quiz is updated each half-term. The student who gets the most correct answers is in with a chance to win a £10 voucher. The winner of our last quiz was… (drumroll please…) Amy from The Arnewood School 🥳 Your turn – take part in this half term’s quiz for your chance to win ❯ Top tips for finding quiz answers: Take a look around the Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life! All of the answers are around for you to find. Complete the first activity. If you haven’t done it yet, now is definitely the time – plus, it’s a great way to hone those researching and essay-writing skills. Go to the activity ❯ Meet the teams. Ask them questions, read their profiles, and check out their updates! View teams ❯ Check out the … Continue reading →

Posted on June 30, 2021 by modemily in Update | Leave a comment

🌳 Get the most out of Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life

Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life connects you with the experts sequencing the genomes of every living thing in Britain and Ireland. You can take part from today until July 2022. There are lots of ways to take part Chat with the experts! Every month you can Chat with experts working on the Darwin Tree of Life project. It’s after-school and theres a new topic each month. Join the Chats on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7pm here. Meet the teams ❯ Find out about the experts in each team. Read about their role on the Darwin Tree of Life project, what problems they’re currently solving and which species they’re currently working on. Follow the sequencing of your favourite species step-by-step. Get Tree of Life Gateway updates straight to your dashboard by editing your profile. Ask questions. You can send questions to the experts whenever you like! Ask … Continue reading →

Posted on June 18, 2021 by modemily in Update | Leave a comment

Sequencing the Biome of Great Britain: Listen to the podcast

How will the Darwin Tree of Life benefit the public? What are the biggest challenges the project has faced? And how much DNA can you really get from a protist? The University of Edinburgh’s BioPOD, a podcast by the School of Biological Sciences, chose to interview Professor Mark Blaxter and Dr Alex Twyford about the Darwin Tree of Life project in May 2021. Professor Mark Blaxter is Programme Lead for Tree of Life Programme, and Dr Alex Twyford is an evolutionary biologist working at the University of Edinburgh who is interested in speciation and adaptation in flowering plants. They are both heavily involved in the Darwin Tree of Life project. Professor Blaxter and Dr Twyford discuss the benefits of the project, and how “sequencing life for the future of life” can improve our understanding of genomes, and global conservation efforts. They also touch on the potential resources hidden within genomes, … Continue reading →

Posted on June 10, 2021 by modjosie in Update | Tagged | Leave a comment

Quizzers, challenge yourself with a new set of questions!

As you might already know, we’ve introduced a brand new quiz to Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life. Every half term, we update it with new questions. The student who gets the most correct answers is in with a chance to win a £10 voucher. Last week’s winner was… (drumroll please…) Alessandra from Hills Road Sixth Form College 🥳 Your turn – take part in this week’s quiz for your chance to win ❯ Top tips for finding quiz answers: Take a look around the Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life! All of the answers are around for you to find. Complete the first activity. If you haven’t done it yet, now is definitely the time – plus, it’s a great way to hone those researching and essay-writing skills. Go to the activity ❯ Meet the teams. Ask them questions, read their profiles, and check out their updates! View teams … Continue reading →

Posted on May 28, 2021 by modjosie in Update | Leave a comment

Finding life in every drop of water

“If we really want to understand life, and the way that we function, we need to understand how protists fit into our lives and fit into evolution.” – Dr Sally Warring Dr Sally Warring, a member of the Perfect Protists team, recently appeared in a video by BBC Earth talking about her work, and the Darwin Tree of Life project. View Dr Sally Warring’s appearance on BBC Earth:  Ask Sally Warring a question Ask Sally Warring a question Ask This Question!

Posted on April 8, 2021 by modjosie in Update | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Successful full genome sequencing of three bumblebee species

The Darwin Tree of Life team are delighted to announce the release of three complete bumblebee genomes this week.

Dr Liam Crowley, a postdoctoral field biologist at the University of Oxford who is a member of the Woodland Wonders team, writes about the importance of sequencing the genomes of bumblebees, and which species were sequenced. Continue reading →

Posted on March 26, 2021 by modjosie in Update | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

🧬 The starting point

This month, we’re kicking off Schools @ Darwin Tree of Life! What’s this all about? The Darwin Tree of Life project is sequencing the genomes of all 60,000 species of eukaryotic organisms in Britain and Ireland. Meet scientists and researchers from the institutions involved in making it possible. Ask the questions you’re curious about. Develop your independent research and study skills before you head to university. You can get a behind-the-scenes look at a cutting-edge science project that hopes to transform the way we do biology, conservation and biotechnology. Take part in a live Chat On Monday 15 March at 1pm, take part in the very first live Chat with some of the teams involved in making the Darwin Tree of Life project happen. Whether you want to check in on progress, learn how you get involved in big projects, or have any other burning questions – this is the place. … Continue reading →

Posted on March 9, 2021 by modjosie in Update | Leave a comment

Ask the scientists:

How to use the activity

Watch the video to see what you can do on the Darwin Tree of Life site.