Wednesday, November 27, 2019

How to write numbers, figures, dates and times - Emphasis

How to write numbers, figures, dates and times How to write numbers, figures, dates and times How good are you at watching your figures? These can be a crucial part of your document and the more clearly you express them, the better. Here are our guidelines for expressing time, money, statistics, data, dates and anything else involving numbers: 1. Write out numbers one to ten in words. 2. Use figures for 11 and above. 3. Avoid mixing words and figures in the same phrase. For example: You can order in multiples of 9, 12 or 16, not nine, 12 or 16. 4. Always use figures in data if decimals or fractions are involved: 6.25 or 6 1/4. 5. Write ordinals (first, second, third etc) in full, not 1st, 2nd, 3rd. 6. Write fractions in full and hyphenate them in the body of text eg two-thirds of the class. 7. Write thousands as 60,000, not 60K. 8. Use a comma for tens of thousands or more: 9000; 12,000; 50,000. 9. Write millions as 60 million or 60m, not 60,000,000. 10. File sizes should always be written as abbreviations eg 45Kb, or 1.8Mb. 11. A billion is a thousand million (1,000,000,000), not a million million. Write billions as 6 billion or 6bn, not 6,000,000,000. 12. Use per cent in running text (as opposed to tables etc.), not the % sign. 13. Use these forms rather that the 24-hour clock: 9.30am, 12 noon, 5pm, 12 midnight. 14. Write dates in this format: 7 September 2008. 15. Use twentieth century, not 20th century. 16. When indicating time span, use from/to, between/and or X-X. But dont mix and match: use from 9am to 5pm; or between 9am and 5pm; or 9am5pm. 17. If spanning dates in the same century, drop the first two digits of the second date. But keep them if the dates span different centuries: 196769, 19992008. 18. Do not use apostrophes for collective dates: 1990s, not 1990s. A few of these are issues of style rather than hard-and-fast rules. If youre not sure, or if you still have any questions on writing numbers, leave a comment and well get back to you.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

buy custom Virtual Meetings Technology essay

buy custom Virtual Meetings Technology essay The Future of Face-to-face Meetings With the advent of new technology, the face-to-face meetings are greatly affected. The online meetings like teleconferencing, videoconferencing, audio conferencing and chats among other means of meetings have greatly dominated the current communications limiting the use of face-to-face meetings. The change over is attribute to the numerous advantages that are presented by the newly arrived technology over those of the face-to-face meetings. The advantages of the virtual meetings technology that meet the requirements of the users are the cost saving, efficiency, the effectiveness, the renouncement and handiness. The technologies are proving to be economically fit for the needs of the technology consumers. Practitioners prefer to use the technology to minimize the transportation, the risk to losing confidential information and the meeting set up (like the entertainments) costs. Moreover, its use in the world of today is becoming common and no one is willing to lag behind. The other advantages are the usefulness and the usability of the technology. Furthermore, there are day-to-day improvements that foster their usefulness in the lifestyles adopted today. These advantages make them of preference and soon they will lead the face-to-face meetings out of use. This will help to improve on the effectiveness of the large meetings while the face-to-face meetings come to a halt. It will come to a point whereby all the large meetin gs held technologically. While discussing the possibility of the face-to-face meetings being face out, it is important to consider some facts. Considering the type of meetings held it is possible that face-to-face meetings are to coexist. One reason as to why I argue in this direction is that some business meetings require the physical presence of the participants in order to deliver a long-term solution. One may never read the mood of the meeting and may end up making wrong assumptions that will later affect the business. However much the technology is to play an important role, the face-to-face meetings will still have their ways into existence. This could be limited to only small meetings. To conclude, the face-to-face meetings are likely to be specifically for small meetings and that is where the business rules forces. The large face-to-face meetings will be out of question. Buy custom Virtual Meetings Technology essay

Thursday, November 21, 2019

English paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

English paper - Essay Example That is the function of an art, its relationship to nature and life, distinction of its beauty from the truth, its use, and moral goodness. According to Sartwell, â€Å"It is systematic attempt to pit aesthetics against rationality since it views beauty as a teeming opposite of simplicity. In this case spiritual orientation entails an aesthetic and vice versa† (Sartwell 59). Therefore, in depicting spirituality, different objects are in use by different cultures and religions. For instance, the Christians crucifixion really moves one to see the brutality received by Christ on the Calvary. Mathias crucifixion exaggerates the suffering a depiction that goes beyond realism. The body is covered with big sores of wounds to show the beatings and it is discoloured all over with blood. The legs intertwined with a nail at the place of intersection to hold the body on the cross. Sartwell asserts, â€Å"The legs have begun to putrefy and were turning green beneath the rivers of blood. He hands wide open, fingers contorted in a wild gesture in which were supplication and reproach† (Sartwell 71). This kind of work can move even the non-Christians to belief as they experience beauty in different emotions of this sight. Another example of objects that depict beauty are furniture and other work designs. For instance, the work of Shakers disjoins the physical object from its meaning. Just as the shakers believed that work is a form of worship, looking at their work one can view the devotion. Beauty revolves around some values that depict morality. The simplicity of art works, austerity, and integrity made the Shakers work outstanding, which made them make a lot of money as they marketed genuine items with honesty and quality. This is beauty (Sundara) as one looks at it in all dimensions such as moral aspect, physically, and spiritually. As one admires a good craft and the skilful work that goes into the craft, the mind can

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Aircraft Performance Reassessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Aircraft Performance Reassessment - Essay Example The flight span is anywhere from around 50 to 500 feet above the ground. Aircrafts fly wing-tip to wing-tip at speeds greater than 500 miles per hour. This report describes the aircraft of the model, Cassutt 3m, a formula one racing aircraft. The Cassutt 3m is a model of a Formula One racing aircraft that is fit with various specifications that make it suitable for racing on a track. Its engine and aerobatic features are unique and subscribe to the general requirements of track racing (Filippone, 2006). The safety and the loading features enable it to maneuver bends without the risk of causing accidents. The aircraft is run by the Continental 0-200 engine that saves on consumption of fuel. This aircraft runs at a terrific speed of 185-200 MPH whilst consuming 6 gallons of fuel hourly (Filippone, 2013). Like other racing aircrafts, Cassutt 3m has high aerobatic features enabling it to attain high climb rates of about 3700 feet per climb. Cassutt 3m prominently features in Formula One World Racing Championships. Its unique features make it adaptable to the Formula One Racing Championship that exhibits a show of acrobatic maneuvers in aircrafts (Saarlas & Maido, 2006). Visible features that make this aircraft effective in air racing include the structure of winglets that minimizes drag and thus improving lift coefficient. The stretch of pilot’s cockpit is characteristic to Cassutt 3m and differs from other racing aircrafts (Saarlas & Maido, 2006). Steel tubes, fabrics, and composites comprise components making up lower and upper fuselages of this aircraft. The landing gears are made up of spring steel and spring aluminum cantilevers. The overall design of Cassutt 3m is unique and differs from the design of normal airplanes. The design of the wing is inimitable and has attracted praises over the years. Cassutt 3m maneuvers across the lands like any normal small plane reaching destinations.  

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Free

Free Speech Essay In 1996 at Bonneville High school in Ogden, Utah a young foreign exchange student from Poland sat with her friend eating lunch. As she gazed upward she could see into the window of one of the history classes. To her horror, visible to the entire student body was displayed a Nazi flag. The flag was being displayed as part of a class on World War II and was displayed next to a Japanese flag, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia to highlight certain aspects of that time period. After asking for the flag to be removed without avail, the student, Marta Daszkiewicz, wrote a letter to the local newspapers editorial section. In which she wrote â€Å"The swastika still evoked fears because the neo-Nazi movement is still alive in Germany. If you have Polish license plates, you can get beat up by neo-Nazis when you go into Germany, (Daszkiewicz, personal communication, February 15, 2012) A local newspaper at the time reported: [Karen] Miner said she was surprised to hear that Daszkiewicz, whose grandfather was killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, felt the Nazi flag had no place on her classroom wall. â€Å"My father was one of the first Americans to go in D-Day, Miner said, adding that he helped liberate Paris and later some of the concentration camps where Nazis killed millions of Jews and members of other ethnic groups they deemed to be inferior.† (Associated Press 1996) At the school, teachers took sides, and because she was miles away from her parents and other means of support the young student felt ostracized. She felt like she had come to the land of the free and when she decided to speak her mind, she was shot down. (Daszkiewicz, personal communication, February 15, 2012) Karen Miner, the teacher, also felt her own freedoms had been brought under fire, and although she had been supported by her school and local school board, she certainly was not promoting Na zi ideology. (Associated Press 1996) What the student and the teacher had experienced here was a classic clash over when and if our freedom of speech should be censored. In either position; it is hard to know how we should respond. This was a balancing act with the teacher on one side representing the government, her students, and herself and the student on the other representing the individual. Both sides would probably describe their own freedom of expression to be the one that was threatened. And both have a reasonable claim to have their rights  being protected. In the United States of America, the right to freedom of speech has been held as one of this country’s highest values, as nationally recognized by the Constitution of the United States of America. Censorship of speech is a controversial subject matter, and will probably always be debated in the U.S. as long as this country exists. Balancing individual expression against the public’s welfare and safety is one of the most significant challenges of government. The passage and enforcement of unbalanced laws lead to suppression then revolt and an eventual disintegration of that society. Visual Aide The great balancing act is that even within the first amendment itself, there are often conflicts between the specific rights. And often Freedom of Speech is paired against not only the other rights within the 1st amendment, and also against the government’s role to protect the nation. Supreme court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate check is required to save the country. (Holmes, Abrams v. United States, 1919). Justice Holmes did not believe free speech should never be limited however. â€Å"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. [] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent† (Holmes, Schenck v. United States, 1919) When speech is limited even for the reasons stated by Justice Holmes and Mr. Cohen, consequences can arise that are so disagreeable that they outweigh the original intent. On January 18th, 2012, only short time ago, a massive internet protest ensued. Some of the largest and most used internet sites went dark for 24 hours, including Wikipedia and Reddit, to bring attention to the movement against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), two acts designed to protect owners of copyrights from the  possibility of intellectual robbery. Wikipedia, Google, and many others stated that while they understood the need to stop piracy of intellectual property, these bills went too far and began to censor ideas and knowledge. (Pepitone, 2012) It is only through this type of public discourse that the protections of speech and expression remain intact. On September 11th, 2001, one of the worst attacks in the history of the United States was perpetrated on our own soil. This act has lead to countless, laws and actions by the United States government. Among these is a very controversial act, known as the patriot act. This act has been argued by some to sacrifice our privileges of privacy and other rights for a little more security. Yet many believed our freedom of speech remained untouched. â€Å"Unlike World War I, for example, people were free to express their opposition to the â€Å"war on terror† without fear of being sentenced to ten years in prison†¦ In at least one significant area speech and association de emed to provide â€Å"material support† to terrorist groups our First Amendment rights are considerably less robust in the wake of 9/11 than they were before. Professor David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center explained â€Å"The â€Å"material support† law gives the executive the power to designate as a â€Å"foreign terrorist organization† any group that is foreign, has used or threatened to use a weapon against person or property, and whose activities undermine our â€Å"national defense, foreign relations, or economic interests.† (Cole, 2007) Cole further explains that the Supreme Court rulings of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project uphold as constitutional the Bush and Obama administrations’ overly broad interpretation of that law and set dangerous precedents for speech rights in the future. The fear of further attacks by the enemies of the United States is not a reason to suppress our speech and expression. â€Å"Censorship,† according to Justice Holmes, â€Å"is an almost irresistible impulse when you know you are right† (Sunstein, p. 25). But letting the government swing toward suppression even in the face of adversity may at first help to protect a society but can eventually lead to much more complex and destructive problems. History has provided many examples of societies that used tactics to suppress ideas and expression. Examples of these groups are religions, governments, schools, and corporations. History has also shown  us that prolonged restriction of free speech leads to some sort of revolt. Known examples of revolts due to suppression are, the Lutheran and Calvinist Movements in Europe, the American Revolution, and Brown versus The Board of Education. (Heyman, 2010) A more modern, less dramatic, representation of the idea that censorship leads to revolt is known as â€Å"The Streisand Effect†. (Greenberg, 2007) The Phenomenon is named after singer Barbra Streisand and her failed attempt to suppress pictures of her home from being posted across the internet. In 2003 Kenneth Adelman posted aerial photos for an environmental survey. These photos included the singer’s Malibu beach house. Streisand responded to the pictures by suing Adelman. â€Å"Until the lawsuit, few people had spotted Streisands house, Adelman saysbut the lawsuit brought more than a million visitors to Adelmans Web site, he estimates. Streisands case was dismissed, and Adelmans photo was picked up by the Associated Press and reprinted in newspapers around the world.† (Greenberg, 2007) Yet based on history a suppressive government cannot sustain itself without making a switch to a more balanced approach to human rights, including free speech. In his book Did Plastic People of the Universe topple communism? Tom Stoppard shows the history of how suppression of Rock and Roll in Czechoslovakia eventually led to the 1989 Velvet Revolution. In 1976, after years of suppression by the Czechoslovakian Communist Party, The Plastic People of the Universe, a psychedelic rock and roll band were put on trial after attempting to stage a music festival that was not sanction by the government. (Stoppard, 2009) A diverse group of supporters, including playwrights, writers, professors and other Czech intellectuals, had attended the trial and gathered outside in the hallway. Among the supporters was avant-garde playwright Vaclav Havel who had met band members a week earlier and had been impressed with them. Havel left the trial feeling disgusted with the world and resolved to make a difference. (Stoppard, 2009) In the months that followed, these sympathizers gathered in solidarity with local hippies and rallied around the Plastic People. They dared to establish a human rights organization and released a statement of principles on  January 1, 1977, naming their organization after the charter, Charter 77. Havel said that the Plastics were defending lifes intrinsic desire to express itself freely, in its own authentic and sovereign way, which is as close to a perfect definition of both democracy and rock and roll as has ever been stated. Charter 77 evolved into a world-famous human rights petition that eventually landed Havel in jail, and was a precursor to the national revolution or â€Å"Velvet Revolution† that occurred 12 years later. (Stoppard, 2009) â€Å"The Velvet Revolution (Czech) or Gentle Revolution (Slovak) was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 to December 29, 1989. Dominated by student and other popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, it saw to the collapse of the partys control of the country, and the subsequent conversion from Czech Stalinism to capitalism.† (Radio Prague, 1997) The Constitution of the United States extends the rights of speech as part of the first amendment. However, within the same amendment the constitution also offers religion, press, and peaceable assembly. Within the same amendment the right can sometimes conflict with some or all of the other rights protected by the constitution. Balancing the rights of citizens with the demands of government is not a battle that will ever be won. Due to changes in the worlds ideas and cultures we must, as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. suggested, be â€Å"Eternally Vigilant† (Holmes, Abrams v. United States, 1919) in protecting others free speech. Balancing individual expression against the general public’s safety is one of the most significant challenges of government. If we do not we must face the possibility of losing our own freedoms and may have to fight either through words or deeds to retain those rights. Bibliography: Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1995). The Collected Works of Justice Holmes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Radio Prague (1997) Radio Pragues History Online Virtual Exhibit!. http://archiv.radio.cz/history/history15.html Retrieved 2-16-2012 O’Brien, David M. (2010) Congress Shall Make No Law: The First Amendment, Unprotected Expression, and the Supreme Court. Lanham, Maryland: Bowman Littlefield Publishers, INC Heyman, Steven J. (2008) Free Speech and Human Dignity. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Goldsmith, Edward (1971) Social disintegration: causes. London, England: Sphere Books Stoppard, Tom (2009) Did Plastic People of the Universe topple communism?. NY Times Online 12-19-2009. Retrieved 2-15-2012 Associated Press (1996) Polish Exchange Student Criticizes Nazi Display. Associated Press, Saturday, May 25 1996 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/491559/POLISH-EXCHANGE-STUDENT-CRITICIZES-NAZI-DISPLAY.html Greenberg, Andy (2007) The Streisand Effect. http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/10/streisand-digg-web-tech-cx_ag_0511streisand.html (2/15/2011) Norton, Rob (2008) Unintended Consequences. . The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. 2008. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved February 18, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/UnintendedConsequences.html Pepitone, Julianne (2012) SOPA explained: What it is and why it matters. CNN Money Tech. Retrieved February 18, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm Finan, Christopher M. (2007) From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act. Boston, MA: Beacon Press Frontline (2006) The Memory of Tiananmen 1989. PBS Thomas, Andrew Peyton (2005) The People v. Harvard: Law How America’s Oldest Law School Turned Its Back on Free Speech. San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books Sunstein, C. (1993) Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech. NY: Free Press Cole, David (2011) Free Speech After 9/11: Why Advocating for Peace is Now a Crime. American Constitution Society. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/free-speech-after-911-why-advocating-for-peace-is-now-a-crime Kim, Jae-Young (2002) Sorting Out Deregulation: Protecting Free Speech and Internet Access in the United States, Germany, and Japan. New York, NY: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC Kristoff, Nicholas D. (1989) A Reassessment of How Many Died In the Military Crackdown in Beijing. The New York Times. 21 June 1989 Abrams, Floyd (2005) Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. New York, NY: Viking Nunziato, Dawn C. (2009) Virtual Freedom: Net Neutrality and Free Speech in the Internet Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford Law Books Bernstein, David E. (2003) You Can’t Say That! : The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws. Washington, DC: Cato Institute Cohen, Henry Legislative Attorney (2009) Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service 7-5700 Daszkiewicz, Marta (2012) Personal Interview conducted by online chat on February 15, 2012. Poland. [emailprotected]

Friday, November 15, 2019

Henrik Isbens A Dolls House :: A Dolls House Essays

A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen was born in 1828 on the coast of Norway into a middle class family. When he was 6 years of age, due to financial loss, his family were forced to move to a smaller house in the country and his education was disruppted. Ibsen had to work as an apprentice and study in the evening this alienated him from his family and he was never to reunite with them. In 1849 his first play was published and was a disaster. Ibsen altered his style of writing to accommodate the trend of the era which was romanticism. His second play the â€Å"The Warrior’s Borrow† was a success. Ibsen then acquired a job as â€Å"Dramatic Author† at the Norwegian Theatre which included all parts of the theatre production directing, designing sets and costumes as well as financial and business aspects. At this point in time, Ibsen was successful as light comedy, romanticism and melodrama were the main subjects he wrote about. By 1860 he was disillusioned with those and wanted to deal with real issues about everyday life in society, which his middle class audience could relate to. Being a socialist, Ibsen’s realistic for of writing made his audiences think and even examine their own life’s this made his realistic plays extremely successful with the public but the critics thought other wise. In 1877 â€Å"The Pillars of Society† was his naturalistic play but still contained a happy ending. Then only two years later â€Å"A Doll’s House† had a totally different ending which embraced women’s rights and was revolutionary causing a stir throughout Europe. Most of Ibsen’s realistic plays were based on events that had happened in his own life. The style at the time was Romanticism and melodrama this genre of theatre was known as â€Å"The Well Made Play†. The plays in this era consisted of your typical goodies vs. baddies battles which resulted in the goodies winning nearly all the time. A high percentage of the time these types of plays ended up with every thing falling into place nicely for instance, the man gets the women, the goodies win the battle and everyone lives â€Å"happily ever after†. As I stated earlier on Ibsen wanted to move away from this style and on to a different on. Ibsen helped develop a new genre of theatre along with Shaw called Naturalistic. This type of drama was classed as â€Å"The new theatre† which dealt with real life situations, morals and social issues. Some critics found this style of drama scandalous which dented its popularity in the early stages. The first play to generate positive remarks from the critics was Ibsen’s play â€Å"A Dolls House†.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

DNA †Genetically modified food Essay

Virtually every crop we eat have undergone hundreds of years of genetic modification by farmers and scientist in search of desirable traits. Selective breeding and hybrid strains have contributed immeasurably to farm productivity during this time. Over the past 30 years however, genetic engineering has been revolutionized. While before, a farmer wanting to develop a frost resistant tomato would be able to breed towards one only if the necessary genes were available somewhere in tomatoes or a near relative to tomatoes, modern biological engineering techniques overcome such restrictions. Genetic traits from outside a species’ gene pool, in the tomato’s case from an arctic fish, can be spliced into the organism to create an entirely different species, a transgenic organism with the typical traits of a tomato and frost resistance from a fish. The most widely used method of gene splicing, recombinant DNA, uses biochemical â€Å"scissors† called restriction enzymes to cut the strings of DNA, selecting required genes. These are then â€Å"ferried† by a virus or a bacterium that infects the host, smuggling the gene into the plant’s DNA. In this way scientists have been able to create slow ripening and seedless fruit, crops that grow in unfavourable conditions and are resistant to disease or herbicides and milk from cows given a genetically engineered growth hormone. The benefits of gene technology in terms of food production are enormous. The most common genetically engineered crops contain modifications that make the plants resistant to certain diseases and herbicides, or allow them to produce their own pesticides, thereby eliminating or reducing the need to spray. So-called â€Å"Bt corn,† for example, contains a gene resistant to the harmful mycotoxin fungus and herbicide producers, Monsanto have created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to be unaffected by their product Roundup. The soybean farmer therefore can avoid targeting specific weeds and require just one application of a general weed-killer, reducing costs and agricultural waste run-off. Genetically modified crops are also being adapted to grow in salty, dry or frosty environments, contain edible vaccines, have a longer shelf life and be more nutritious. A group of Swiss and German scientists recently developed a strain of GM rice know as ? golden rice’ due to its altered colour. Containing genes that produce a unusually high amount of beta-carotene (vitamin A), this rice could be a solution to the thousands of poor children in Asia who eat little but rice and go blind or die from lack of vitamin A Public reaction to the use of recombinant DNA in genetic engineering however has been mixed. Sliding US export commodities such as genetically modified soybeans and corn have highlighted hardened public opinion and widespread resistance to biotech crops, especially in the European Union. Concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: economics, environmental hazards and human health risks. The latter two have been the subject of hot debate, both in Australia and overseas. Environmental damage from GM crops can be caused through various channels. One of the main concerns has been the possibility of gene transfer to a non-target species, that is crops engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds cross-breeding, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance to create ? superweeds’. In addition, environmentalists fear that transgenic plants may proliferate rapidly, pollinating natural plants in their surroundings eliminating existing species. Further environmental suspicions include those of unintended harm to other organisms (especially non-target insects) and of the reduced effectiveness of pesticides once insects become tolerant to a crop’s natural pesticide. Questions have also been raised on the human impact of genetically modified organisms. Critics of recombinant DNA fear that the pathogenic, or disease-producing organisms used in some recombinant DNA experiments might develop extremely infectious forms that could cause worldwide epidemics. Likewise, the unknown effect of foreign genes introduced into GM food crops in terms of human health also presents a controversial issue. Furthermore, there is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans in order to increase their nutritional value was abandoned when it was found that the genetically engineered soybeans caused an allergic reaction in people sensitive to Brazil nuts. For these reasons, extensive testing and labelling of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Biotechnology has started to revolutionise food production, with fantastic results. With the world population of 6 billion expected to double in the next 50 years and an adequate food supply becoming a major challenge it will no doubt continue to do so in the future.