Talking Biotech
The Talking Biotech Podcast is dedicated to the topic of biotechnology. These powerful methods have been extremely useful in medicine and agriculture, and hold great potential for the future. Despite their promise, there is substantial skepticism in the public regarding these technologies. A food-secure population, a profitable fear-driven anti-biotech industry, and a lack of scientific literacy hinders application of these technologies from reaching those that could use them. The companies and scientists that understand biotechnology are not explaining it well to the concerned public.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Podcast: Agricultural economist Stuart Smyth explains the risks and benefits of GMOs and the future of crop biotechnology
Few academics eagerly engage the public on controversial scientific topics, content to quietly focus on their research. Agricultural economist and ...
Podcast: How precision, customized medicine is reshaping health care
For all the life-saving pharmaceuticals, surgeries and devices it provides, modern medicine is still rather imprecise. Chemotherapy drugs, for instance, ...
Podcast: How nitrogen-fixing bacteria can cut fertilizer use 30-50%
In the early 20th century, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch revolutionized agriculture. The two German chemists developed a technique, now ...
Podcast: How activists and politicians derailed South Australia’s attempt to embrace GMO crops
Activists in Australia are manipulating politicians with fear and doubt to restrict farmer choice ...
Podcast: How artificial intelligence, machine learning can help us realize the value of all that genetic data we’re collecting
Everywhere we look these days, someone is talking about the potential for artificial intelligence and machines to change the face ...
Podcast: How food bullying spreads unjustified fears about GMOs, animal welfare and food safety
We've heard a lot in recent years about the harmful impacts of bullying, especially cyber-bullying aimed at children. But rarely ...
Podcast: Genetically engineered CAR-T cell therapies destroy cancer cells. Here’s how they work
Many millions of words have been written about GMO crops. As a result, most people know they can now buy ...
Podcast: Should you eat ‘fake meat’? Geneticist Chana Davis breaks down the GMO Impossible Burger controversy
The Impossible Burger has exploded in popularity across the US, with grocery stores and popular fast-food chains like Burger King ...
Podcast: Edible cotton—how genetic engineering turns toxic seeds into nutritious food
Cotton production is a global industry. Grown by approximately 80 countries, the crop is primarily harvested for fiber to make ...
Podcast: Farm Aid concert meant to support US agriculture spreads GMO, ‘factory farming’ myths
In recent years, Farm Aid's laudable effort to support US agriculture has morphed into a promotional event for organic food ...
Podcast: Synthetic fertilizer pollution threatens our ecosystems. Are nitrogen-fixing microbes the answer?
Farmers need nitrogen fertilizer to maximize crop yields. Without it, our food supply would be nowhere near as abundant as ...
Podcast: How ‘activist science’ behind IARC’s glyphosate assessment fuels unjustified cancer lawsuits
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a monograph concluding that glyphosate, the active ingredient in ...
Podcast: GMO insects loose in the wild? Inside scoop on controversial Oxitec mosquito in Brazil
The tiny mosquito is a nuisance in the industrialized world, yet in developing countries it is a ruthless killer, spreading ...
Podcast: Plagiarism, data fabrication in science threaten public health. Meet one biologist who’s fighting back
Scientific misconduct is a serious problem in academia today. High-profile examples of data fabrication, falsification or plagiarism often generate lots ...
Podcast: GMO rice could yield affordable treatment to stem HIV in developing world
A research team developed an ingenious solution to a logistical public health problem—adding anti-HIV proteins to rice ...
Podcast: South Australian farmers battle for access to GMO crops. Will they win?
Australia has welcomed the use of genetically engineered (GE) crops, and farmers have found particular benefit from broad acre canola ...
Podcast: Battling hangovers with GMO bacteria
Genetically engineered microbes commonly manufacture our vitamins and amino acid supplements, but can they be supplements themselves? Zbiotics has developed ...
Podcast: Bridging the gap between farmers and consumers on GMOs, sustainable agriculture
Agronomist and entrepreneur Robert Saik has a lifetime of experience in farming. For years, he has been a leading advocate ...
Podcast: Has sickle cell disease met its match in CRISPR gene editing?
Dr. Brenda Eustace, director of discovery research at Vertex, joins plant geneticist Kevin Folta to discuss this promising treatment ...
Podcast: How nano bar codes made with probiotics are used to protect product consistency and safety
Products move from producer to consumer through complicated networks called supply chains. These routes of custody involve many people and ...
Podcast: Battle to conquer HIV with biotechnology is on. How much progress have we made?
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is to blame for one of the worst public health crises the world has ever ...
Podcast: Bt eggplant in Bangladesh—the GMO crop that boosted farmer profits 6-fold
Subsistence farmers in Bangladesh make a living by growing, harvesting and selling brinjal, or the fruit westerners know as eggplant ...
Podcast: Biologist Rob Wager takes on anti-GMO scientists at 1st International Conference on Agroecology
Economic growth fueled by market reforms has cut poverty in the developing world drastically over the last 30 years. But ...
Podcast: Could domesticated bacteria help break our dependence on fossil fuels?
Microbes surround us and enhance our lives in almost innumerable ways. These helpful micro-machines catalyze key reactions required to produce ...
Podcast: CRISPR immunizes pigs against PRRS—deadly viral disease that costs $600 million annually
Christine Burkard, assistant professor of infection and immunity at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, says her team has devised a ...
Podcast: More fearful of crop losses than jail, Indian farmers grow illegal GMO Bt eggplant
While Indian farmers have benefited tremendously from growing insect-resistant GMO cotton, the government has outlawed the cultivation of genetically engineered ...
Podcast: Glyphosate-tainted breakfast? Plant geneticist Kevin Folta debunks fear-based CBS Roundup report
Does the network get it right? Not even close, says Folta ...
Podcast: Jurassic Park paleontologist Jack Horner on resurrecting extinct species with genetic engineering
Although dinosaurs are probably never coming back, the scenes from Jurassic Park are an extrapolation of actual research being performed ...
