On Tuesday morning we had our first ‘Outside the Laboratory’ session of the Science Communication course — led by Prof Wendy Barclay — and discussed ‘flu.
In particular the session explored the recent brouhaha about the creation of laboratory strains of H5N1 influenza that are capable of being transmitted between ferrets and, in all probability, between humans.
Should the research have been done? Vincent Racaniello, a leading virologist, thinks not.
The class looked closely at the implications of this and had to plan podcast interviews with Wendy (see left) and a scientific conference designed to tease out the most important issues.
Science Communication 