Superheroes and DNA in FutureTech

As part of our FutureTech Programme Third Form pupils were treated to a lecture from Simon Watt - biologist, TV presenter, writer and science communicator - about changes in DNA and how that could lead to the creation of 'superheroes'! 

This is was Third Former, Reece, had to say about the fascinating lecture:

"During our Futuretech lesson we were lucky enough to have a guest speaker come in and talk to us. The talk was about how changes in DNA can lead to superheroes and what mutants would cause such an effect. Simon Watt is a professional biologist, TV presenter, writer, science communicator amongst many other things. He began the talk mainly explaining about how DNA causes us to all be different, but also how mutations can lead to drastic changes in the way we appear. Highlights for me included how the changes in DNA over generations can happen so easily and he showed this with a game of (COVID friendly) Chinese Whispers. He used different people to represent generations and this showed how the base pair sequences can alter and what it may lead to. He used bursting balloons to put off some of the pupils in the game which represented how mutagens can affect the amino acid sequence. Finally, we found out about the science behind some superheroes like X-men, Spiderman and the Hulk and that there is in fact a web-slinging, crime fighting Spider-goat! It is used to get spider’s silk which is as strong as steel but weighs much less. I thought that the talk was very inspiring and interesting. If this week’s lecture was this good, I am excited to see what is to come later in the term!"

As well as providing an exciting and creative learning environment the FutureTech Programme provides cross-curricular lessons for all Third Form pupils which removes the barriers between subjects and encourage interest, skill development and creativity in the areas of Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).