The ongoing risks associated with the spread of foot-and-mouth disease have forced the postponement of next week's Science Today lecture. Dr Kevin Davies was to have discussed research about the human genome and his new book on the subject next Monday at the Royal Dublin Society.
The Irish Times and the RDS, which jointly sponsor the Science Today lectures, regret the postponement and any inconvenience this may cause to the several hundred people who had booked places. The Science Today lectures are viewed by the two companies as an important contribution to the public understanding of science. It is important, however, that the threat of foot-and-mouth disease be countered as strictly as possible, even when the apparent risk of transmission is small.
It is hoped that Dr Davies' talk can be rescheduled once the threat of the disease has passed. His book, The Sequence, Inside the Race for the Human Genome, was launched several weeks ago and is available in bookshops here for £20.