genetics and society

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering series on Sustainable Agriculture and modern biotechnology #KSLA2012 with tweets · KamounLab · Storify.

CultureLab: Passing the baton of life - from Schrödinger to Venter.

ScienceDebate 2012 | The Questions. "Whenever the people are well-informed," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "they can be trusted with their own government." Science now affects every aspect of life and is an increasingly important topic in national policymaking. ScienceDebate.org invited thousands of scientists, engineers and concerned citizens to submit what they felt were the the most important science questions facing the nation that the candidates for president should be debating on the campaign trail. ScienceDebate then worked with the leading US science and engineering organizations listed at…

Journalist Kevin Kloor discusses the spread of disinformation about GMOs The latest, most egregious example is a report with an Orwellian title, “GMO Myths and Truths” via Collide-a-scape » Blog Archive » Collide-a-scape >> Look Beyond the Scientific Veneer of a GMO Report. He makes a plea to influential and well-respected scholars like Marion Nestle: Dont be fooled by a scientific veneer.

The History of Sake: Takamine and Today (with tweets) · pcronald · Storify.

F. Cunningham gave a great talk today at the ASM 2012 meeting on the discovery of provitamin A synthesis, Vitamin A deficiency and the creation of Golden Rice. Read my twitter stream here.    

New study concludes" "The western bean cutworm is neither a 'new plant pest' nor 'caused by GE corn' as stated by Greenpeace."  

Over the past 16 years, vast plantings of transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have helped to control several major insect pests and reduce the need for insecticide sprays. Today,  a report in Nature shows that planting of BT crops is also associated with an increase of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders, which are  natural enemies of certain pests that harm the crop. On the basis of data collected from 1990 to 2010 at 36 sites in six provinces of northern China, the authors show  a marked increase in abundance in these three arthropods…

Why labeling of GMOs is actually bad for people and the environment « The Berkeley Blog.   This is a very balanced and knowledge-based post by the widely respected agricultural economist, David Zilberman. Thankfully, he brings some science to this hot topic. It is an important read for everyone in California who votes as we will soon have an initiative on GMO Labeling on our ballot.   One small point. Professor Zilberman  indicates "Now, what about emergence of resistance to GMOs? ' Actually, the resistance is to the herbicide that is sprayed on the GMO. The more people plant HT crops, the…

MT The debate on genetically engineered crops (the so-called "GMOs") has begun to grow up. Anti-GMO protests are fizzling. Why? Some consumers are embracing an emerging "geek consciousness" – a science-friendly approach that rejects unfounded attacks on basic and applied science and that emphasize knowledge-based agriculture instead of faith-based agriculture. Also, genetic modification is no longer new. GM crops have been grown commercially around the world for more than a decade, and have been eaten by millions with no harm to human health or the environment. Scary health effects that…

Here is a link to a an interesting new book by Julia Gordon. She just graduated from Washington University in St Louis as a graphic design major, and for her senior thesis she designed an informational book, using the chapter "Green Genes" from Stewart Brand's book "Whole Earth Discipline". For this project she used his text as the body for the book, and created additional images, graphics, maps, captions and footnotes to accompany the text. When given the assignment to design an informational book for her thesis, she was excited to base it on Green Genes because she found it "eye opening,…

Listen to an informative interview on NPR with University of California, Berkeley geneticist Peggy Lemaux regarding the California initiative on Food labeling. "If youre looking to know whats in your food, well theres a lot of stuff in your food, and theres already a lot of stuff on the label," says Lemeaux. "And a lot of people already dont read the label." For more information, check out her science-based website here. It is a great site, which answers just about any question concerning genetically engineered crops.

Just read some of the comments on Amy Harmon's #GMO labeling story from Friday's NYT. Guess people care about this topic. Here are some excerpts: "Unless you are foraging, eating wild-berries, game, etc... then you are consuming GMO food. There is no logical definition of #GMO food" "Conservatives deny data on global warming; Liberals deny data on #GMO safety Each side discards reason when it doesn't suit their politics" "The FDA should require stringent testing of GMO products and label only those found to be harmful" "You think you have pesticides being applied now? Wait until the demise of…

A paper in this week's issue of Nature and a commentary on Revkin's DotEarth blog reinforces the argument that a hybrid path in agriculture -- incorporating both conventional and organic production practices -- gives the best chance of feeding some 9 billion people by midcentury in an ecologically-based manner. The thoughtful and comprehensive study compares yields in organic and conventional systems and addresses the criticisms of an earlier study by Badgley et al (for problems with the earlier study, see the supplementary discussion in Seufert et al). The organic agriculture movement has…

I was so pleased to have a chance to take part in the Women in Science Symposium at Cornell April 2-3. Thanks to the Cornell faculty and students that put together this wonderful event. For those that could not attend, read the graduate student interviews with the speakers here. Dr. Mary Power is director of the Angelo Coast Reserve, leader in scientific societies, mentor to many successful students, and as an influential figure in several environmental policy debates. Dr. Sharon Long is member of National Academy of Sciences and served as science advisor to President Obama during his…

Bacteria can talk. Yes. Talk. These unicellular, primitive creatures have their own language. They secret chemical words to their environment, where their neighbors can listen, comprehend and react to those messages. This bacterial communication is called quorum sensing (QS). Although the first discoveries in the field of bacterial communication where made more than 40 years ago in the marine bacterium Vibrio fisheri (1), they simply did not have the quorum to be heard. Until Bonnie Bassler came along. Thanks to Bonnie and her colleagues, today, microbiology courses throughout the world…

The New Earth Archive is a resource network of powerful, inspiring books on climate change, sustainability, social justice, and human nature.The students ask you to vote for up to 15 of your favorite books. So pleased, Tomorrow's Table made the list! http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/808430/neweartharchive-ballot Whoie Earth Discipline, by Stewart Brand is also on the list and so are many other great books. Please spread the word. Thanks for your support. The New Earth Archive was developed by students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and supported by Paul Hawken and other leading…

The New Earth Archive is a resource network of powerful, inspiring books on climate change, sustainability, social justice, and human nature.The students ask you to vote for up to 15 of your favorite books. So pleased, Tomorrow's Table made the list! http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/808430/neweartharchive-ballot Whoie Earth Discipline, by Stewart Brand is also on the list and so are many other great books. Please spread the word. Thanks for your support. The New Earth Archive was developed by students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and supported by Paul Hawken and other leading…

Applause for Plant Physiologist Helen Stafford who left the Reed College Biology Department $1M. As a woman scientist in the 1950s, Stafford was ineligible for many jobs. Reed College, not deterred by her sex, offered her a position. She went on to establish a successful career and inspired many young scientists. Here is a short story of how she influenced my career. The windowless room, dank an dark, was not an obvious place for inspiration. I took notes, wondering if I would be able to glean anything meaningful from Professor Helen Stafford's (1922-2011) meandering lecture. I was skeptical…

This excellent New York Times article describes Eric Lander's journey in science to his position today as not only one of the great genome researchers but a terrific teacher and human being.