Ambicioso projeto quer mapear DNAjogos online de vestir66 mil espéciesjogos online de vestirplantas, animais e fungos:jogos online de vestir

Legenda do vídeo, Ambicioso projeto quer mapear DNAjogos online de vestir66 mil espéciesjogos online de vestirplantas, animais e fungos

The story…

Discovering the code of all life

Life

Need-to-know language

teeming with life – being full of living things

biomedical sciences – knowledge and research applied to healthcare

DNA sequence – order of elements that form DNA, which is the blueprint of living things

breed crops – make plants reproduce

decipher the genetic code – identify the DNA sequence of something

Answer this…

The DNA of what living things is the project aiming to identify?

Watch the video online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/lingohack/ep-191211

Transcript

"So now we're just taking a sample of water from the pond so we can see what living things are in there."

Even the most cutting-edge global science can start with a pond and a selfie stick.

I'm assuming that's teeming with life. But I can't see anything in it.

"No, but once you look under the microscope, you will see."

This is a tiny part of one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever - to read the DNA of all non-human life on Earth.

That's every plant, animal, fungi and single-cell organism, including the ones in the pond where these guys work.

Dr Iain Macaulay, Technical Development Group Leader, Earlham Institute

It's really exciting. Over the last ten years or so, a lot of techniques have been developed in biomedical sciences for doing single-cell sequencing… so, to analyse the DNA of individual cells from humans or mice. And what we're doing is adapting those technologies.

So there's [there're] things in here that don't have a name, let alone having their DNA sequence. They don’t even have a name yet.

Dr Iain Macaulay, Technical Development Group Leader, Earlham Institute

It's entirely possible, yeah.

By studying DNA from wild species, they hope to find answers to global problems. Like how to breed crops to withstand disease and climate change.

Over the next decade, ten UK partners will decipher the genetic code of sixty-six thousand species. [It's] part of a global effort to sequence one and a half million living things - with the results free for all to use.

Did you get it?

The DNA of what living things is the project aiming to identify?

The DNA of all non-human life, such as plants, animals, fungi and single-cell organisms.