It's November and Hong Kong's bauhinia trees are in full flower. Their branches blaze with gorgeous magenta blooms, adding splashes of tropical colour to the city's streets and parks. This month also sees the launch of an ambitious project to sequence the genome of the Hong Kong bauhinia tree. Bauhinia Genome is a community-based, crowdfunded venture - the first of its kind in Hong Kong. It's the brainchild of Rob Davidson and Scott Edmunds, two scientists working for BGI, one of the leading genome sequencing organisations in the world. It is headquartered in Shenzhen, but maintains its largest sequencing plant in Tai Po. When I arrive, I'm surprised to find this state-of-the-art facility...
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