PIONEERING professor Lord Robert Winston will be visiting the Tivoli in Wimborne next week to talk about the pros and cons of the modification of genetics.

In his one man show, the renowned scientist asks whether the sequencing of the human genome really heralds a new opportunity for medicine or is there a darker side that we ignore?

IVF treatments mean we can now help 65 year-olds to conceive, store eggs and embryos in the deep freeze for several hundred years, and screen embryos for serious genetic disorders.

Advances in gene technology also mean that we can not only select embryos for ‘desirable’ characteristics but we can now modify genes of animals with remarkable ease.

Lord Winston asks whether ethical considerations will prevent us from the next step – manufacturing stronger, more gifted and very intelligent children? Or will our imperfect knowledge of how our abilities are inherited mean that they there are some major surprises in store?

These are some of the issues Professor Winston will explore when he visits the Tivoli on Monday December 5. To book tickets call 01202 885566.