Over the last few weeks it has felt like our world has been turned upside down. We're out of the EU, political parties are imploding... Wales are in the semi-finals of the Euros!
There are some things however, which may not warrant the juicy headlines of the things mentioned above, but are just as important and must not be forgotten. I am of course, talking about Synthetic Biology.
Now apart from those of you studying science, most of you probably don't understand why you should care about synthetic biology, and that's fair enough. You may be vaguely aware of what it is, but probably haven't seen it directly affect your life. That's not going to be the case for much longer.
Advances in synthetic biology are coming thick and fast, but who is deciding what technologies are worth pursuing? Nobody has asked you have they? Well, that's about to change.
Scientists are realising that the potential of synthetic biology cannot be truly fulfilled without your support. No public support means that it is left to private companies to provide funding for new technologies, and profit drive can sometimes prevent front-line academics from doing what they really want: finding solutions to the medical and environmental problems of tomorrow.
So what can you do? When your children or grandchildren ask you what you were doing when these decisions about their future were being made, do you want to be able to say you stood up and were counted? Or you were too busy looking for gossip about the next Labour leader?
Politics is very important, but there are many changes in society that are much larger than Michael Gove or Jeremy Corbyn. There are decisions that you can make regardless of who is our Prime Minister, and here's how:
If you follow this link you will find a survey. It doesn't take more than five minutes, and after a few clicks you will have made your voice heard to synthetic biologists who wake up every morning wondering whether what they are doing is in your interests. And it's difficult, because not many people have told them.
At the bottom of the survey there is also space to leave your email address to consent to a brief 30 minute Skype interview. This will help us learn more about your survey responses, and help you make your voice even louder.
It was Carl Sagan who said "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows about science and technology". Well that doesn't have to be the case for much longer. Make the change today.