Using a drop of blood to identify the parent of a child, as depicted in some TV dramas, is unscientific, a researcher said yesterday, as researchers from the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) gave a news conference at the Ministry of Health and Welfare to announce an open house event today.
The researchers said they are opening their doors to the public so that they can demonstrate popular science facts through 13 specially designed games.
Task-oriented research is typically conducted at the institutes — a crucial biomedicine research and development hub in the nation — but the researchers believe that they should also contribute to the community and directly share some of their knowledge with the public, NHRI Secretary-General Wu Shiow-ing (吳秀英) said.
The institutes have in the past held science camps for a limited number of students, but this is the first year that researchers are holding an open house, Wu said.
The games were designed by NHRI researchers and include scientific knowledge about the external environment, public health, cells and genes, and personal health, Wu said, adding that there would be levels of difficulty for younger students and older students.
TV shows might show someone’s parentage being revealed by analyzing a drop of blood, but red blood cells do not contain DNA or other genetic material, so they cannot be used to identify family members, NHRI research assistant Lin Jyh-shi (林志熙) said.
However, genetic testing can be used to confirm a parent-child relationship with up to a 99.99 percent accuracy, he added.
The open house would also have a virtual reality simulation of the breeding sites of dengue fever vectors, experimental conditions in which people must choose the correct protective equipment, and antigen purification in vaccines explained using a ramp, balls and a grid, Wu said.
The institutes hope being exposed to its resources would make the public more curious about popular science and encourage students to observe and think scientifically so that they can someday contribute to biomedicine research, NHRI Director Liang Kung-yee (梁賡義) said.
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