some people are genetically _ people are genetically predisposed to become obese, their genetic make—upople to become obese, it's just more likely. and of the people who don't have those genes, well, some of those will also become obese for other reasons. decode set about trying to answer the question, which is it that makes these diseases more likely? is obesity itself? or is it the genetic tendency for obesity? it turns out you are not simply cursed by your genes to become ill. ., cursed by your genes to become ill. . . . , cursed by your genes to become ill. . . _ ., , ill. that genetic tendency has no impact _ ill. that genetic tendency has no impact on _ ill. that genetic tendency has no impact on this _ ill. that genetic tendency has no impact on this disease, i ill. that genetic tendency has no impact on this disease, soj no impact on this disease, so it is purely obesity itself that predisposes to the disease, and then we asked the question what is it then that this genetic tendency has an impact on? which part of our biology, which part of our being is being influenced by this

and that genetic tendency _ get ill. and that genetic tendency has _ get ill.pact on get ill. and that genetic - tendency has no impact on these diseases, so it is purely the obesity itself that predisposes us to disease. and then we asked the question, what is it, then, that this genetic tendency has an impact on. which part of our biology, which part of our being, is being influenced by this genetic score for obesity? and indeed, we showed that a greater genetic tendency to become obese is, the worse you perform on all cancer tests of cognitive function. your verbal iq is less, your trail making testis iq is less, your trail making test is worse, your education is less. obesity itself has no impact on cognitive function, so you don't become stupid by becoming obese. but the genetic aberration that made you lose control of eating behaviour has an impact on many other functions of your brain. 50 functions of your brain. so obesity makes you susceptible to other diseases regardless of your genes, but the gene which makes obesity more likely does affect your inte

if you just use genetics, it's not going to work.a can't offer every answer, at least dr yiannis later confirmed that i'm free to drink coffee while i mull over my need for any diet change — or not. spencer: i tell you she'd never have given it up anyway. now, back at decode genetics in iceland, founder kari stefansson has been looking at a similar and possibly controversial topic: how our genes shape our bodies, our minds and our personalities. i can tell you how we can use genetics to explore, in a way, the nature of man. his most recent scientific paper has been looking at how that relates to one of the developed world's biggest health problems. if there is one condition that predisposes to more diseases than anything else, it is obesity. obesity predisposes to heart failure, to liver diseases, to osteoarthritis, to type 2 diabetes. it predisposes to an incredible number of all cancer diseases. now, some people are genetically predisposed to become obese. their genetic make—up means that they'rejust more likely to overeat. not all

if you just use genetics, it's not going to work.r every answer, at least dr yiannis later confirmed that i'm free to drink coffee whilst i mull over my need for any diet change or not. i tell you, she'd never have given it up anyway. now, back at decode genetics in iceland, founder kari stefansson has been looking at a similar and possibly controversial topic — how our genes shape our bodies, our minds and our personalities. i can tell you how we can use genetics to explore in a way the nature of man. his most recent scientific paper has been looking at how that relates to one of the developed world's biggest health problems. if there is one condition that predisposes to more diseases than anything else, it is obesity. obesity predisposes to heart failure, to liver diseases, to osteoarthritis, to type ii diabetes — it predisposes to an incredible number of all cancer diseases. now, some people are genetically predisposed to become obese. their genetic make—up means that they're just more likely to overeat. not all of these people do

that means 50% is not genetic.ry different from the type of environment that the environmentalist from freud onwards assumed was important. they assumed the environment where these systematic effects like mothers treating you badly as an infant, for example, but we now know that cannot be important because kids growing up in the same family who are not genetically related, adopted siblings, we call them, a third of adoptive families adopt a second child who isn't related to that child, they are not similar, even though they grew up in the same family. like, for body weight, the correlation in body weight between two kids growing up in the same family who are not genetically related is zero. and yet, those adopted kids, if you look at their correlation with their birth parents who gave them up for adoption at birth, is just as great as the correlation in weight between parents who rear their own kids. so all the data together, really,... but don't you go to an extreme and you basically say to me, as a parent, you're

genetic.part that is genetic, it doesn't mean you can't do anything about your behaviour. it's just these are genetic nudges. you know, they push you. if you have met kids who are really good at maths, they make their world maths. theyjoke about maths, they talk maths, they think maths, so they create an environment that is kind of in line with their genetic tendencies. it is not this deterministic hardwired thing. and the best example in my book is i actually create what we call polygenic scores. so based on my dna, i'm able to put thousands of these dna differences together to predict weight. so we can predict about 10% of the differences in weight and, when i do that for me, you can see that i'm on the portly side and i am at the 70th percentile in actual weight but my genetics score is at the 94th percentile. does that, you know, people say, "oh, that means you just don't to give up, you're a genetic fatty, you can't do anything about it". but to the contrary, you know, i find it very moti

if you just use genetics, it's not going to work.t up anyway. now, back at decode genetics in iceland, founder kari stefansson has been looking at a similar and possibly controversial topic: how our genes shape our bodies, our minds and our personalities. i can tell you how we can use genetics to explore, in a way, the nature of man. his most recent scientific paper has been looking at how that relates to one of the developed world's biggest health problems. if there is one condition that predisposes to more diseases than anything else, it is obesity. obesity predisposes to heart failure, to liver diseases, to osteoarthritis, to type 2 diabetes. it predisposes to an incredible number of all cancer diseases. now, some people are genetically predisposed to become obese. their genetic make—up means that they're just more likely to overeat. not all of these people do become obese, it's just more likely. and, of the people who don't have those genes, well, some of those will also become obese for other reasons. so, decode set about trying

your grandfather, it seems, experienced a mutation, a genetic mutation. my father. so, he was born in 1927. william shakespeare — unfortunate name. and his father, geoffrey, who was a junior minister in the liberal government the last time the liberals were in coalition — was very worried about it and was very upset about it because suddenly his child was short. the reason i mention the grandfather first because isn't it the case that it was the grandfather's genetic mutation which he was not aware of? that is right. which he then passed on to your father, his son? exactly, you are quite right, stephen, sorry. in fact, 60% of people who are born with my condition are born to average height parents. anybody who watches this programme who is themselves average height or even tall could have a short child. obviously, myself, i have a 50—50 chance of a short child and, indeed, my father had an average height child and a fully affected child — me. but in average people, it is very rare. maybei in 20,000. sperm — it's usually sperm — go different and, therefore, an achond

they don't have my genetic mutation potentially.d lives, and we can do something about that. were there societal pressures on you not to have children? yes. yes, there were. and i remember when — my daughter's name is ivy — when her mother was pregnant, there was an expectation, they showed that that pregnancy was affected by achondroplasia. and i think there was an expectation — she was born in 1988 — there was an expectation we do the right thing and have a termination. and we went, "yeah?" you mean an expectation from the medical professionals around you? yes. notjust medical professionals. friends, colleagues thought that it was the right thing to do. what about your own parents? well, my father was very welcoming. he was a doctor. he was... he knew the genetics, but he also knew that it need make no difference. and so was my mother. i mean, she's been a fantastic great—grandmother to my grandchild. but for her, maybe it was more questionable because she didn't have it. she didn't have the condition. my father did, so he knew it

there's so much of the ethical problems that genetic discoveries are forcing us to confront. siddhartha mukherjee, who is a cancer doctor he wrote written what he calls: an intimate history of the gene. and it takes us form that history, starting in a monastery garden 150 years ago, into a future where we are going to have to deal with the consequences of what we're beginning to learn about how we're made up and what makes us function. welcome this is a comprehensive history f? rza 15,5; 7:7;i3sizsaarcifis-srzeh— — ,,, and its implications, but it's also a deeply personal story, isn't it? yes, it is. you know, this book begins with an exploration of my own family and in particular a history of schizophrenia and bipolar really the book begins with the question, why? why me? am i susceptible? are my children susceptible? and what happens, what do i do with that knowledge. let's trace the story from this monastery garden. yes. because it is quite remarkable. here's a chap playing around in his garden, and he makes a discovery, and it really is one of the landmark i would say it i

should we screen all human embryos for genetic abnormalities? should we root out mutations? could we be sleepwalking into a new era of eugenics? my guest is the ethicist, disability rights activist and writer tom shakespeare, who also happens to live with a genetic condition, achondroplasia, which has restricted his growth. should we embrace difference rather than use science to root it out? tom shakespeare, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, it's great to be here. it's great to have you. now, in your personal life and your professional life, everything has been intertwined in terms of your campaigning work, your academic work. ijust wonder whether you ever, for a moment, considered going into something entirely disconnected from your own personal circumstances? something like accountancy, law, geology? you know what, there are short people, restricted growth people in all of those professions. there are farmers, teachers, solicitors, everything. but i did not go that way. so as a social scientist, i've always been interested in what others experience and so obviously disabilit

genetic make up, my election to lung disease or yours.y genetic health, the more that can inform forecasts about public health strategies. this isn'tjust about coronavirus but all forms of healthcare going forward, isn't that exciting? is absolutely exciting and i would be the last person in the world to say that we don't want that knowledge but i think you have to keep recognising that even what genetic testing will tell us is around probabilities and not certainties. there is a huge amounts that we don't understand. example, we know that identical twins have identical dna but we also know that if one of those twins gets multiple sclerosis, if genetics was destiny, the other one would too. in fact, the other one would too. in fact, the likelihood of the other one getting it is just 30%. let's the likelihood of the other one getting it isjust 30%. let's be honest, we still don't know what accou nts honest, we still don't know what accounts for the fact that some children who were born blonde turn... they had turns brown and submit it does

we find that height and weight have substantial genetic components.ral intelligence has a substantial genetic component, a little less than some of the physical traits like height and weight and brainwaves. nevertheless, a substantial genetic component as does special mental abilities, and then we drop down a bit when we get to job satisfaction. probably the most surprising findings in the last 20 years or so have been things like religiosity. how much you invest in religious activities and interests and political attitudes and social attitudes have a genetic component to them. these findings come from years of data collected from retrospective studies of twins raised apart, and not the neubauer—bernard project, which itself was fundamentally flawed as it did not include a control group of fraternal twins, even though they were also separated. this was the reality for allison and michelle, even though they were not studied. my son gets an e—mail on ancestry from a women in newjersey who basically blurts out and says, "i am your mother's twin sister."

genetics to our- clearing up genetics to our behaviour. _ clearing up genetics to our behaviour, ourhaviour, our disease - clearing up genetics to our. behaviour, our disease states and probably— behaviour, our disease states and probably before - behaviour, our disease states and probably before long - behaviour, our disease states and probably before long you | and probably before long you can predict— and probably before long you can predict somewhat - and probably before long you can predict somewhat how. and probably before long you can predict somewhat how it| can predict somewhat how it should — can predict somewhat how it should behave. _ can predict somewhat how it should behave.— can predict somewhat how it should behave. how does that make you _ should behave. how does that make you feel? _ should behave. how does that make you feel? it _ should behave. how does that make you feel? it is _ should behave. how does that make you feel? it is almost i make you feel? it is almost spooky. _ make you feel? it is almost spooky. i — make you feel? it is almost spooky. i guess. _ ma

there's an incredible amount of good that you can use genes for, genetic technologies for.. i'll give you two examples, you know i see cancer patients, virtually every patient that i see has some aspect of their genetics, it was unthinkable ten years ago. yes, even ten years ago? even ten years ago. we were doing it on small numbers of patients. virtually every patient that comes into my clinic has some aspect, some have their entire genome or the active part of the genome sequence, that is one example. a second example, we are beginning to take immune cells from patients, bring them out, culture them in test tube, genetically engineer them to kill cancer, in the test tube, and reintroduce those cells into human beings for leukaemias that were previously absolutely deadly, you can bring out a person's own... i mean think about that for a second, bring out a person's own immune cells, reengineer them, and make them specifically deadly killers to their own cancer, and now inject those cells back, all because, in part, down to genetic technology. what it boils down to is this:

it really can tackle genetic diseases that we never thought— genetic diseases that we never thought we that — without sickle—cell, breast cancer, things that really are about the genetic— things that really are about the genetic makeup for that instead of now genetic makeup for that instead of nowjust _ genetic makeup for that instead of nowjust trying to get the jeans to do something differently so that it doesn't _ do something differently so that it doesn't hurt anybody you can actually — doesn't hurt anybody you can actually edit that gene out and replace — actually edit that gene out and replace it. and the technology behind — replace it. and the technology behind it — replace it. and the technology behind it for that we might look back— behind it for that we might look back on— behind it for that we might look back on this very moment and say this really— back on this very moment and say this really change medical care for folks who — this really change medical care for folks who have long been waiting for some _ folks who have long been waiting for some way— folks who have long

code by making a small sometimes a large changed that genetic sequence.gramme the scissors to say look at this bit, look at that bit. exactly. there was a moment when you thought what, what was the moment when you thought this is different, this is going to have far greater applications? i think it was really the research that was going on in our labs and the work that was done via two individuals, who were studying the latest enzyme cas9 functions. once we understood how it could be programmed with rna and how to engineer the rna into a simpler form than what we find in nature, we have sort of realise that this would be an incredibly powerful tool for manipulating genomes. because at that stage, you knew that it would work in humans to. because it would be possible to cut any type of dna from our experiments, yeah. do you remember what you felt at the time and what you did? well, i remember leaning over the lightbox in the lab and looking at the results of an experiment with martin and looking at each other in saying that wow, this is an incredible prote

in the area of genetics, cancer and rare diseases.loring, personalising the treatment a particular person with a particular cancer will need to deal with their condition and this is the kind of technology that can facilitate that. yes and some people are already benefiting from this so we know that backin benefiting from this so we know that back in 2014 there were over 30,000 of these kinds of genetic tests done for people with different cancers. and that led to some of those people changing their treatment path, it became more personalised and it could mean that they avoided one medicine versus another or it could mean their treatment had fewer side effects for them. of course cost is a big issue and prodded the reason i suspect that the chief medical officer has come up with this now is she can see those costs finally beginning to come down to the point where they can be, this treatment can readily be given to people. we know there are questions, there are pressures on the nhs but this definitely is the direction of travel for canc

of genetics more pressure that can — access of genetics more pressure that can be — access of geneticsn be put on genetics to play and restricted _ that can be put on genetics to play and restricted the _ that can be put on genetics to play and restricted the number- that can be put on genetics to play and restricted the number and i that can be put on genetics to playj and restricted the number and just chose _ and restricted the number and just chose six _ and restricted the number and just chose six or— and restricted the number and just chose six or something _ and restricted the number and just chose six or something like - and restricted the number and just chose six or something like that i and restricted the number and just. chose six or something like that and those _ chose six or something like that and those generalists_ chose six or something like that and those generalists are _ chose six or something like that and those generalists are under- chose six or something like that andl those generalists are under pressure to ask— those generalists are under pressure to ask ques

but there is a risk, people are concerned about genetically modified food.if you're modifying the genome in this way? i think it is important to understand what genetic modification involves when we talk about traditional plant breeding versus using a tool like crispr—cas9. in traditional plant breeding, mutations are introduced randomly in the plant dna and then selected for traits. it takes a long time and they cannot control what other mutations are coming along in the dna. with a tool like crispr—cas9, the changes that are made are precise. they occurjust at the desired place in the dna of a plant cell. there is also dr george church at harvard trying to recreate a woolly mammoth by using the technique. yeah. i mean that, it seems extraordinary that that is possible and, are you concerned when you hear things like that? is there a reason to be concerned? well, whether or not it is possible, i am not sure. but i think the sort of larger point there is that it is possible now to use genome editing to introduce dna sequences into cells in a controlled way,

i think it will be transformative in genetic diseases. _ many of the kids i transplant have genetic diseasesat we can take their own stem cells, _ put in the gene that their illness is deficient or faulty in, - and correct the condition - following a transplant using these gene—modified stem cells. royal manchester children's hospital is trialling similar treatments for two other rare genetic disorders, with more conditions likely to follow. this is the newborn heel—prick blood test. its purpose is to screen for nine treatable genetic conditions, including cystic fibrosis. families affected by mld want it added to the nhs screening programme. if we'd have got there sooner with connie, if we realised there was an issue with connie sooner, then she would still be here with us now. connie, joe's older sister, wasn't diagnosed until she was five — too late for treatment. she died last year, at the age of 13. you really need to be looking at newborn screening. we can test for it, we can treat it. these children just don't need to be dying the most awful, horrific deaths that they're being subject

looking at genetic— natural model.iour and what — genetic influence on behaviour and what we're is that many more — and what we're is that many more behaviours than we ever would — more behaviours than we ever would have thought do have a genetic— would have thought do have a genetic component to them. to t to genetic component to them. trr try to understand the unique relationship twins have, i went to visit identical twins up together in east london. i can look at her— together in east london. i can look at her and _ together in east london. i can look at her and i _ together in east london. i can look at her and i know - together in east london. i can look at her and i know what i look at her and i know what she's— look at her and i know what she's thinking. _ look at her and i know what she's thinking. i— look at her and i know what she's thinking. i know- look at her and i know what she's thinking. i know what| she's thinking. i know what she's— she's thinking. i know what she's feeling. _ she's thinking. i know w

it came a fire is genetics.— fire is genetics. muhdo has partnered _ fire is genetics.netics. muhdo has partnered with king's - fire is genetics. muhdo has l partnered with king's college london where experts say a biological age is not fixed. and in fact, biological age is not fixed. and infact, it biological age is not fixed. and in fact, it does not have to progress injust one direction. to progress in 'ust one direction._ to progress in 'ust one direction. the ageing or biological _ direction. the ageing or biological score - direction. the ageing or biological score is - direction. the ageing or- biological score is malleable. the risk of getting an age related diseases such as diabetes can be increased or decreased based on your lifestyle. decreased based on your lifestyle-— decreased based on your lifes le. �* . �* , lifestyle. and that's led some eo - le lifestyle. and that's led some people who — lifestyle. and that's led some people who i've _ lifestyle. and that's led some people who i've met - lifestyle. and that's led some people who i've met in - lifestyle

code of “p to screen the genetic code of up to 100,000 babies at birth, to screen the genetic code of of an abnormality in their genetic code rather than abnormalities within the blood. but i think it is really important that people are aware that it important that people are aware thatitis important that people are aware that it is not superseding them. at the moment, the generation study is in addition to and not instead of newborn screening is. so we would very strongly encourage those people who are in the generation study to also be having the neonatal heel prick screen at the same time. ., . ~' , heel prick screen at the same time. ., a , ., heel prick screen at the same time. ., , ., i. heel prick screen at the same time. ., a , ., i. ~ time. how quickly do you think this will start _ time. how quickly do you think this will start to _ time. how quickly do you think this will start to bear _ time. how quickly do you think this will start to bear fruit, i this will start to bear fruit, how quickly will you be able to identify where there is an issue, when early intervention can

and could genetics be the key to making big gains in the gym? we'll hear from a company that believes the key to keeping fit is in your dna. today, what changes have you made in your business, workplace, at home due the to coronavirus? tell us your story, just use the hashtag bbcworklife. a warm welcome to the programme. financial markets in europe open for 35 minutes. i have to say, not looking good at all, sea of red, dramatic drops on key indexes across europe. what's driving this today? the price of oil has fallen to its lowest level in years sparking another bout of selling in international markets. the 30 percent collapse was sparked by saudi arabia's decision to raise production after the oil producers‘ cartel opec had failed to strike a deal with russia to extend or deepen existing production cuts. there is a current glut on the market as industry is hit by a slowdown brought about by the coronavirus epidemic looking at some stocks, shell shares down over 20% currently in london. bp shares, energy companies had extremely hard in europe a