S6.03: Confident, competent or confused: What do you think you know about genetics?
Hello, and welcome to Genetics Unzipped - the Genetics Society podcast, with me, Dr Sally Le Page. In this episode we’re taking a step back from sharing the latest genetics stories and instead asking about you the public, what your opinions are, what you know about genetics, or more importantly, what you think you know.
How much do you know about genetics? How much of what you think you know about genetics is indeed factually correct and how much of it is false? How does that affect your attitudes and opinions towards genetics? And did the pandemic change any of that?
Those were the questions that the Genetics Society were hoping to answer when they commissioned a survey of the UK public last year, and just a few weeks ago they published their first interpretations of the data, both as a press release and in the journal PLOS Biology.
The results were fascinating, so to talk me through it, I sat down with one of the authors of the study, Laurence Hurst, professor of evolutionary genetics and the founding director at the Milner Centre for Evolution which researches the teaching and dissemination of science at the University of Bath.
To start off, I wanted to know how they came up with the idea of surveying the public’s attitudes towards genetics.
Professor Laurence Hurst
The Genetics Society commissioned a survey of the UK public to find out what they know about genetics and how that shapes their attitudes towards it. I sat down with one of the authors of the study, Professor Laurence Hurst, to talk me through their findings.
Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith
Sally sits down with the president of The Genetics Society, Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, about why they commissioned a large survey asking questions about their attitudes and understanding of genetics, and science more broadly.
For more information about this podcast including show notes, transcripts, links, references and everything else head over to geneticsunzipped.com You can find us on Twitter @geneticsunzip and please do take a moment to leave us a rating in the Spotify app or review us on Apple podcasts - Your ratings and reviews help push our podcast to the top of people’s recommendations, plus Kat and I really enjoy hearing what you think about the show.
This episode of Genetics Unzipped was written, presented and produced by me, Sally Le Page. It’s a First Create the Media production for The Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies dedicated to promoting research, training, teaching and public engagement in all areas of genetics. You can find out more and apply to join at genetics.org.uk. Our theme music was composed by Dan Pollard, the logo was designed by James Mayall, and audio production was by Emma Werner. Thanks for listening, and until next time, goodbye.
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Image credits:
Image courtesy of Prof. Laurence Hurst & Prof. Anne Ferguson-Smith
