In 2003 the IPCC issued a report that summer sea-ice levels in the Arctic would be reduced to 50% by the end of the 21st Century as a result of climate change. Observations since 2007 show that this estimate is outdated to the point that today estimates show that the Arctic Sea will be virtually ice free in summer by the mid 2020’s. Research is underway to understand how this rapid change could come about but linked with the research is a project, Cape Farewell, which undertakes science in the Arctic alongside internationally renowned artists, musicians and writers.
Heritable variation between members of a population is normally attributed to genetic variation. Genes affecting important traits may be present or absent in different individuals or they may have DNA mutations affecting their expression or the properties of the encoded protein. However, there are examples of heritable variation that are not associated with changes to the sequence of DNA. Plants with differences in flower shape or fruit colour, for example, may have the same DNA sequence. I will describe recent research with plants that is unravelling the molecular basis of these epigenetic phenomena and its implications for agriculture and evolution.