Wyvern academy in darlington can bring you the latest sports stories. The Cheltenham Festival is underway. There have already been two races and our Sports Reporter can tell us more. The School Reporters working behind the scenes and so we are literally behind the scenes here of bbc sport, which you will know and love and if youre paying attention, you will have a spot of the present this afternoon have been a bit younger than usual. Im this afternoon have been a bit youngerthan usual. Im not this afternoon have been a bit younger than usual. Im not. Rude, younger than usual. Im not be rude, it is true, because they are here now. Ryan and peter, youve just presented our afternoon bulletin, how was it for you . It was very nerve racking building up. It how was it for you . It was very nerve racking building up. It when nerve racking building up to it when they said you will be on the bbc news. When you got in there, it was just you and the autocue and it was a lot easier, but the build up was terrifying. Youve got all the technical jargon, terrifying. Youve got all the technicaljargon, youve come all the way from darlington for this to salford and of the been an interesting day . Was it like . M salford and of the been an interesting day . Was it like . It was different. I didnt expect it, so it e interesting and quite was interesting and quite nerve racking as well, but then it was weird, you cant forget your nerves when you are in front of the camera. Nerves when you are in front of the camera. That makes you sound like a natural legs and you two did it this morning. Ever enjoyed it . What you do it living . I think i morning. Ever enjoyed it . What you do it living . I thinkl might, do it for a living . I think i might, actually. It has been interesting. Ive certainly learned how to ive certaintrtaarfieamwta pronounce the names of more rugby players. That is a skill for life did you enjoy it . Yes, interesting to see how it works behind the scenes. You watch it but never realise what it is like to be sad event at the camera and what goes into making it. Timmer, are goes into making it. Timmer, you are the pro who normally does this. You are worried for yourjob . Yes, im looking forward. Going home. Im a looking forward to going home. Im a bit worried they will take myjob simon is much more trouble. ~. ~. ~. Liferhea . 5. ;. ~l. ~. ~. 5555472; than. L. L. L. L. Qell. L. L. 5. Ll. Ll. Ll. L. L. L. L. L. £l. Than me. L. L. L. L. Qellll. 5. Ll. Ll ll. L. L. Llleljl. Than me and llll. L. L qellll. 5. Ll. Ll ll. L. Ll llleljl. Than me and they were very good, when they . So relaxed and its weird, even in the§ i wag also weird, even in the four i was also they have been with us, they have learnt a lot and they now seem to have disappeared as well well leave you tonight with a spoken word piece from success, whos 15 years old and from london. She said she wanted to portray a very Important Message about life, and how even in times of trouble we must stay resilient, face and conquer our obstacles to better ourselves. It isa it is a crazy game, but you take it in your stride and for anybody here, thatis in your stride and for anybody here, that is going through dark times, well, i was there once, but now i shine. Life is like a game as you flow with it and the guys you roll with it. Anything you are going to do, you can get through. You are given this life because chose given this life because god chose you. I was going through the motions, overwhelmed and invoked with emotions and sally got to a time where i can now understand the things i went through was of things i went through was part of gods greater plan. I put myself with positive energies and i started seeing the movements. I put myself around good people and good vibes and started seeing improvements. And loved all the people that make me smile, because they bring mejoy loved all the people that make me smile, because they bring me joy and they make all of this worth the while. And thank you to those who we re while. And thank you to those who were there when i was down, i was falling so quick i almost hit the ground. But i didnt, because i realised who i am, i stopped using the word cannot and use the word can be. I realised once you bring things into existence, you put in the we can show your persistence. You start seeing results. See faults, because i know how it feels when you know fig i know how it feels when you know fm you. I know how it feels when you know fm you cannot. I know how it feels when you know fm you cannot smile, l i know how it feels when you know fm you cannot smile, but i know how it feels when you know. You cannot smile, but our . And you cannot smile, but our feeling is just for now and it only lasts a while, because sooner that they will, when you will finally see that to a lock up in this you will need. Find the key and that lies need to find the key and that lies within you within the depths of your mind, dig deep and see what you can find. Believe in yourself and surely you will succeed and i continue to say this for as long as i live. It is not about what you take from this world, but about what you give. Science is changing faster than ever, but theres so much that we still dont know and were only beginning to grapple with some of the ethical problems that genetic discoveries are forcing us to confront. Siddhartha mukherjee, who is a cancer doctor, wrote about the disease in the emperor of all maladies, has written what he calls an intimate history of the gene. And its a 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 were beginning to learn about how were made up and what makes us function. Welcome. This is a comprehensive history of how we came to know what we know and its implications, but its also a deeply personal story, isnt 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 Disorder in my family that crosses multiple generations. Why me . Am i susceptible . Are my family susceptible . And what happens, what do i do with that knowledge. Lets trace the story from this monastery garden. Yes. Because it is quite remarkable. Heres a chap playing around in his garden, and he makes a discovery, and it really is one of the landmark discoveries in modern science . You know, we are taught about mendle, about greta mendle, we are taught about him in some kind of abstract way. He was a monk, in a garden, etc, yet from that little plot alone emanates virtually all of modern biology. You know, you can trace a line from that plot. All he could see in contradistinction to his priors was that information, information was moving across the biological world and it was moving like units. In a kind of, almost as if particles were moving. He didnt know what the physicalform was, what the chemical form was. No one had even heard at that time, made the connections between dna and genes. And even the word, gene, mendle didnt know. It was coined afterwards. If we race forward 150 years. We are all aware that the pace of this exploration speeded up in a way that, you know, whether you were born in the early 19705, would have been inconceivable. Well, what can we do now . We can read, we can read the sequence of a genome. Your genome, my genome, and the cost is plummeting. It used to be,. Tbe fls. Loae4 was about . Billion odd dollars, now you can sequence, not the whole genome but the active part of the genome for about . 000. You could then, therefore, potentially sequence the genome of an unborn child. You see, this is the question that our children will be facing should have i a genome sequenced . Should i have the genome of my unborn child sequenced . Should i do it even before i conceive . Before implantation . What youre talking about is a power thats produced by these discoveries. Yes. Which we have, and which human beings have to manage in some way, of a kind we have never known before . What happens when a machine begins to decipher the own language of its construction . What if a machine could write its own manual . Thats where we are now. We are machines that are learning to read and write our own manuals of instruction. You know, genes are not destiny. Theres chance, theres environment. Genes are a kind of constraint that place a constraint on chance and destiny. So i dont want to say that genes equal you. No. But what is important is that it is impossible to think about you without at least paying very, very serious attention to genes. Of course, the moment we get on to this subject, people begin to think, in a nightmarish way, about, people who talked about eugenics in the earlier and middle years of the 20th century, and you deal with this here, and in a way, thats the horror of where these things can lead. I do think that the gene is the defining idea of this new century. It is the most important and potentially the most dangerous idea of this new century. The capacity to control genetics, either through what we choose, how we choose to read and write genomes is absolutely of importance. E an h;5 35 31159551 ; ijust think it is very unlikely. But eugenics will become personal. You will make a decision about what kind of, in a very broad sense, about what to do about your unborn childs genome. So either we look away, or we confront, what i think is the most important and most dangerous idea of the 21st century. It seems to me we need a much wider conversation about this, much like the conversation that occurred when we learned to open up the energy and the atom, and the broader conversation is, you know, we need to ask people who have been, who have experienced devastating genetic illnesses. We need to ask people, you know, genes have the capacity, important effects on the biosphere, you can make new kinds of animals and crops. You can make wonderful things like vaccines. You know, virtually all of the new vaccineses that are made today are using genetic technology. You can make new medicines that change the course of devastating illnesses. Theres an incredible amount of good that you can use genes for, Genetic Technologies for. In your profession. Yes. Things must have changed hugely . I mean, and so much has changed. Ill 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 persons own. I mean think about that for a second, bring out a persons 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 our expectations of life what life holds for us are changing extraordinarily fast as a result of this, as we speak . Absolutely. Theres no doubt about that. And it will continue to change and in order to contend with it, its at our doorstep, we cannot open the door without knowing its name, without knowing what its powers are, what, how its been used in the past and why you and me . Why schizophrenia in my family . Why diabetes in yours . Why huntingdons disease in another person . Why Breast Cancer in yet another family . How do we have the knowledge and the vocabulary . And the consequence of that is that we have to think about it and we have to confront it. Absolutely. Siddhartha mukherjee, thank you very much. My pleasure, thanks. Day of contrast across the uk today. The best of the sunshine was in the south eastern corner woebegone temperatures up to 17 degrees, but on the other side of the country, lots of showers. Only 6 7d. It comes in behind this lots of showers. Only 6 7d. It comes in behind this e ofl lots of showers. Only 6 7d. It comes in behind this g of cloud and in behind this area of cloud and rain which continues to slip south through the night. It will turn quite chilly in that cold air and we will see temperatures at 4 5d and maybe a rural frost for some and icy patches in northern parts of scotland. Snow showers as well, mainly over higher ground. Rain at lower levels in the north west that is lower levels in the north west that |s 1 c t |ts lower levels in the north west that |s 1 c t its way lower levels in the north west that is 111 its way ever southwards is pushing its way ever southwards eastwards. 13 degrees around the top is pushing its way ever southwards eastwards. 1 in egrees around the top is pushing its way ever southwards eastwards. 1 in the res around the top is pushing its way ever southwards eastwards. 1 in the london nd the top is pushing its way ever southwards eastwards. 1 in the london area, l top temperature in the london area, closed 8 9 for glasgow. Looking toward the weekend, the wind will be a key feature. There will be rain, too, but most of that war for the western side of the uk. This is bbc news. Im carole walker. The headlines at nine the uk government rejects calls for a Scottish Independence referendum before Brexit Theresa may says now is not the time. Right now we should be working together, not pulling apart. We should be working together to get the right deal for scotland and the uk. As tensions increase between the two leaders, Nicola Sturgeon says that westminster must respect scotlands democratic mandate. We have a conservative government with one mp in scotland saying that they will stand in the way of the choice of the scottish people. I mean, this is like winding the clock back to the bad old days of margaretlthatehel a record fine for the Conservative Party for breaking Campaign Spending rules during the last general election