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THE MAGAZINE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY www.rsb.org.uk TheBiologistVol 70 No 3 • Autumn 2023
INSIDE
TO CBD OR NOT TO CBD? Are high street cannabidiol products safe and effective?
CITY LIFE
Using hormones to track wildlife’s urban adaptations
FANTASTIC PHAGES An exclusive extract from The Good Virus
Tissue
tech
A new method to ‘bioprint’ electronic
circuits directly
into flesh
VOLUME 70 NO 3 Autumn 2023
ON THE COVER 14 Fleshtronics How new bioprinting techniques could revolutionise implants and prosthetics
Contents
18 Street life Endocrinology is revealing how hormones help animals cope with city stress
10 Cannabidiol conundrum Amid the CBD product boom we ask how effective they really are
26 The daisy debate Is ragwort a toxic weed or an ecologically important wildflower?
CONNECT WITH US Have an idea for an article or interested in writing for us?
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UP FRONT 04 Society news RSB welcomes new ambassadors; Biosphere podcast launched; guide to Biology Week
06 Policy news and analysis RSB responds to education inquiries; Parliamentary Links Day report; how the Society is helping foster pan-science collaborations
FEATURES 10 Don’t believe the hype Cannabis products are on trend, but do they actually work?
14 Bioprinting in vivo The new generation of 3D printing techniques that could revolutionise bioelectronics
18 Urban endocrinology How hormones help animals adapt to city life
22 Book extract With AMR on the rise The Good Virus re-examines the 100-year-old idea of using phages as antibiotics
26 Weed or wild flower? The biology of ragwort is key to its success – but is it dangerous to livestock and people?
30 Free to roam Travel grant recipients on how RSB funding boosted their careers
REGULARS 34 Members 38 Book reviews 42 Branches 47 Crossword 48 Amazing experiments Carl Woese’s new tree of life
Vol 70 No 3 / THE BIOLOGIST / 1
