Latest news with #KatBruce
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Prince William has 'the best day of my life' spraying pond water at journalists
Prince William has claimed to have enjoyed the "best day of my life" as he was encouraged to spray pond water at journalists. The royal aimed the cloudy water at the media as he joined school children in Guildford collecting DNA samples for NatureMetrics, a finalist in his environmental awards, on Wednesday. As they were gathering water, NatureMetrics founder Dr Kat Bruce suggested William and the children try and spray some at nearby journalists. The prince replied "great idea" as he filled up a syringe and took aim at the reporters nearby. Although the sprays fell short, William was smiling and said: "Oh nearly, so nearly... This is the best day of my life - great fun." When two further attempts failed, the prince was given a tour of the nearby labs. The samples were gathered with syringes with a filter to collect environmental DNA. He was shown how NatureMetrics then uses an extraction machine that produces a DNA code sequence which allows the team to identify everything from bacteria to a blue whale. A finalist in the 2024 Earthshot Prize, the company is attempting to collect and report environmental DNA "to help commercial and conservation organisations make more informed choices to protect and maintain biodiverse ecosystems". While at their laboratory, William said: "So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data. This is fantastic you guys have got this ability to be able to tell us what's really there. "There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area." Read more from Sky News: Dr Bruce said she told the prince to spray water at the journalists because "we always have fun when we're doing sampling". "Once you've done it a couple of times, you're like 'oh we can have a bit of fun with this, where can we spray,'" she added. Prince William is the founder and president of the Earthshot Prize, a global award that celebrates environmental initiatives.
Sky News
29-01-2025
- Science
- Sky News
Prince William has 'the best day of my life' spraying pond water at journalists
Prince William has claimed to have enjoyed the "best day of my life" as he was encouraged to spray pond water at journalists. The royal aimed the cloudy water at the media as he joined school children in Guildford collecting DNA samples for NatureMetrics, a finalist in his environmental Earthshot Prize awards, on Wednesday. As they were gathering water, NatureMetrics founder Dr Kat Bruce suggested William and the children try and spray some at nearby journalists. The prince replied "great idea" as he filled up a syringe and took aim at the reporters nearby. Although the sprays fell short, William was smiling and said: "Oh nearly, so nearly... This is the best day of my life - great fun." When two further attempts failed, the prince was given a tour of the nearby labs. The samples were gathered with syringes with a filter to collect environmental DNA. He was shown how NatureMetrics then uses an extraction machine that produces a DNA code sequence which allows the team to identify everything from bacteria to a blue whale. A finalist in the 2024 Earthshot Prize, the company is attempting to collect and report environmental DNA "to help commercial and conservation organisations make more informed choices to protect and maintain biodiverse ecosystems". While at their laboratory, William said: "So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data. This is fantastic you guys have got this ability to be able to tell us what's really there. "There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area." Dr Bruce said she told the prince to spray water at the journalists because "we always have fun when we're doing sampling". "Once you've done it a couple of times, you're like 'oh we can have a bit of fun with this, where can we spray,'" she added. Prince William is the founder and president of the Earthshot Prize, a global award that celebrates environmental initiatives.
The Independent
29-01-2025
- Science
- The Independent
William enjoys ‘best day' spraying pond water at journalists
The Prince of Wales enjoyed the 'best day of my life' when he was encouraged to spray pond water at the press – all in the name of science. William aimed a syringe full of the cloudy water at photographers and journalists when he joined school children collecting DNA samples for NatureMetrics, a finalist in his environmental Earthshot Prize awards project. The future king visited the Guildford-based company to learn more about its work analysing environmental data to provide clients with a comprehensive map of life in a forest, lake or even the air, and quipped 'does this mean you can find the Loch Ness monster?' Dr Kat Bruce, founder of NatureMetrics, suggested the prince and the youngsters aim at the media as a joke and William eagerly joined in, and said 'great idea' after filling his syringe with water from a tub, drawn from a nearby pond. The group pushed the plungers on the syringes, topped with a filter to collect the environmental DNA, but the sprays of water fell short and the prince quipped 'Oh nearly, so nearly' adding: 'This is the best day of my life – great fun.' Two further attempts failed and the prince left the chilly outdoors to be given a tour of NatureMetrics' nearby labs, where he donned a white coat and gloves to help in the first steps of extracting DNA from a sample. He was shown the rest of the process including a DNA extraction machine that produces the DNA code sequence that allows the team to identify everything from bacteria to a blue whale. William told NatureMetrics' chief executive officer Dimple Patel: 'So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data. This is fantastic you guys have got this ability to be able to tell us what's really there. 'There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area.' NatureMetric has more than 600 clients in 110 countries and they include Forestry England, Nestle, Unilever and wildlife conservation organisation WWF. The company has recently secured £20 million of investment, raised with support from the Earthshot Prize's investment platform Launchpad. Dr Bruce said she had to overcome the 'naysayers' in the early days of setting up the business, and that being involved with the Earthshot Prize, staged this year in Cape Town, was an 'exciting whirlwind'. She said about William collecting the environmental DNA from the pond water: 'We always have fun when we're doing sampling that's why everyone loves doing it, because once you've done it a couple of times you're like 'oh we can have a bit of fun with this, where can we spray.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Prince of Wales asks scientist if she can find Loch Ness monster
The Prince of Wales asked a research scientist whether she could find the Loch Ness Monster, insisting that it was what 'everyone' wanted to know. The Prince expressed a previously unknown interest in the existence of the mythical Scottish creature on a visit on Wednesday to NatureMetrics, a DNA research organisation that was a 2024 finalist in the Earthshot Prize he founded. He appeared fascinated by the organisation's work extracting environmental DNA (eDNA) from water, air or soil samples. The Prince tried his hand at pond dipping and was delighted to then be given the chance to spray cloudy pond water at the media, declaring: 'This is the best day of my life.' As he was shown examples of the company's work, the Prince asked Dr Kat Bruce, its founder: 'Everyone will want to know. Does this mean you can find the Loch Ness Monster?' Dr Bruce told him that despite numerous efforts, only eels had been discovered in the loch. 'People have tried,' she said. 'People came from New Zealand to try that and they took about 500 eDNA samples and no, they said they had found eels. 'It might be a very big eel, but it felt like it was clutching at straws a little bit. All they needed to find was one unidentified piece of eDNA and they could have had a story.' Dr Bruce admitted that NatureMetrics had been asked to use their technology to find 'all sorts' – including the Yeti and Bigfoot, the giant hairy creatures reportedly sighted in the Himalayas and North America respectively. The Prince visited the company, based in Guildford, Surrey, to learn more about its work analysing environmental data to provide clients with comprehensive maps of life in a forest, lake or the air. He joined a group of schoolchildren collecting DNA samples to identify the local wildlife and bacteria present in a nearby lake. Asked to expel the excess water, Dr Bruce suggested he shoot from his syringe in the direction of journalists. The Prince took three attempts before joking: 'Oh nearly, so nearly… This is the best day of my life – great fun.' As he was shown a DNA extraction machine, which produces the DNA code sequence that can identify everything from bacteria to a blue whale, he told Dimple Patel, the NatureMetrics chief executive: 'So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data. 'And you guys have got the ability to tell us what's there. There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area.'
BBC News
29-01-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Prince William visits Surrey-based science firm NatureMetrics
The Prince of Wales enjoyed the "best day of my life" when he was encouraged to spray pond water at the press on a visit to a Surrey-based science William visited the Guildford-based company NatureMetrics, a finalist in his Earthshot Prize, to learn more about its work analysing environmental data to provide clients with a comprehensive map of life in a forest, lake or even the aimed a syringe full of the cloudy water at photographers and journalists when he joined schoolchildren collecting DNA Kat Bruce, the founder of NatureMetrics, suggested the prince and the youngsters aim at the media as a joke and he eagerly joined in, saying "great idea". The group pushed the plungers on the syringes, topped with a filter to collect the environmental DNA, but the sprays of water fell short and the prince quipped "Oh nearly, so nearly" adding: "This is the best day of my life – great fun."Two further attempts failed and the prince left to be given a tour of NatureMetrics' nearby labs, where he donned a white coat and gloves to help in the first steps of extracting DNA from a was shown the rest of the process including a DNA extraction machine that produces the DNA code sequence that allows the team to identify everything from bacteria to a blue told NatureMetrics' chief executive officer Dimple Patel: "So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data. This is fantastic you guys have got this ability to be able to tell us what's really there."There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area." Additional reporting by PA Media.
