genetics

Grant chooses goofy professor over, say, conflicted wannabe monk, and offers, if nothing else, a reminder that a boyish smile and twinkling blue eyes are simply quirks of genetics rather than reflections of humanity.

Environmental pollution is a risk factor for congenital abnormalities, alongside genetics, maternal age, infection and nutrition, she says.

Modern genetics has enabled scientists to do much more: to make precise, targeted changes to the DNA of organisms in a lab.

Likewise, Prof Mizeck Chagunda, who is the director of the Centre for Tropical Genetics and Health, which is also based at the Roslin Institute, believes both in the positive potential of gene editing and that it needs to be carefully overseen.

The father, who was born in London but spent much of his childhood in Nigeria, told the court he began spending more and more time involved in conspiracy theories while studying for a degree in medical genetics in London.