Kevin Folta
Talking Biotech: There’s a worldwide vanilla shortage. Can science save our favorite food flavoring?
Vanilla is the world's favorite food flavoring—but there's not enough to go around. Thankfully, scientists are developing new ways to ...
Talking Biotech: Using psychology to disarm anti-GMO activists
Activists use fear to spread doubt about GMO safety. How can scientists counter this powerful debate tactic? ...
Talking Biotech: 30-year study confirms environmental benefits of glyphosate use
Anti-GMO activists continue to warn about the dangers of glyphosate, but 30 years of data show the controversial herbicide is ...
Talking Biotech: The Kevin Folta—Biofortified controversy: When transparency and confidentiality conflict
Transparency helps scientists earn public trust. But what happens when their research requires confidentiality? Kevin Folta and Paul Vincelli tackle ...
Talking Biotech: Artemisinin—the malaria treatment that could help prevent 400,000 deaths a year
University of York's Dr. Ian Graham joins Kevin Folta to discuss how the plant-derived compound artemesia could help beat back ...
Talking Biotech: Chicken is the most widely grown animal in the world, but where did this popular bird come from?
Chicken is essential to modern agriculture, but where did it come from? Oxford University's Dr. Greger Larson explores this popular ...
Talking Biotech: Probing the psychology of consumers who fear GMOs
Why do consumers fear technologies that have generated an abundant food supply? Economist Dr. David Just explains how emotion influences ...
Talking Biotech: The story of a vitamin-infused sweet potato that helped cut Africa’s infant mortality 25 percent
The 2016 World Food Prize went to a group that coordinated the breeding, promotion and distribution of the orange-fleshed sweet ...
Talking Biotech: How barley gave us pregnancy tests, beer and helped launch an agricultural revolution
Dr. Sheila Adimargono joins Kevin Folta on this week's podcast to discuss barley's role in plant domestication and the development ...
Talking Biotech: Mark Lynas’ evolution from anti-GMO activist to GMO advocate
Writer Mark Lynas discusses his life as an anti-GMO activist, why he changed his mind, and his new book Seeds ...
Golden Rice misinformation: FDA debunks Michael Pollan, Independent Science News
On May 24, 2018 the FDA approved Golden Rice for consumption in the USA, a curious move, because we will ...
Talking Biotech: Why Irish scientist Rosalind Franklin didn’t get the credit she deserved for the discovery of the structure of DNA
Geneticist Mark Lawler: Despite being instrumental in the discovery of DNA’s double-helical structure, Rosalind Franklin died at the age of ...
Wheat and celiac disease: Modern breeding not to blame for gluten—but gene editing could help
New research shows that the immune-reactive agents of modern wheat have been around a long time, and are not necessarily ...
Talking Biotech: Is modern wheat breeding to blame for celiac disease and gluten sensitivity?
Food scientist Senay Simsek: Gluten sensitivity is not caused by the genetic improvement of wheat varieties ...
Talking Biotech: From non-GMO to organic, has food labeling gone too far?
Elanco's Colleen Parr Dekker: Product differentiation and marketing—not transparency and education—are why food companies adopt trendy labels ...
Talking Biotech: Roundup Ready GMO crops made weed management ‘easy’—an agronomist’s view
Kentucky agronomist Chad Lee: Farmers choose herbicide-tolerant GMO crops because they simplify effective weed management and enable no-till farming ...
Viewpoint: UK’s Guardian again gives anti-GMO activist Carey Gillam platform to spread misinformation and fear about Roundup weedkiller
[Carey Gillam's] second recent article in the Guardian says that the herbicide formulation Roundup is more toxic to human cells than glyphosate ...
Talking Biotech: Can biofortified GMO soybeans help tackle vitamin A deficiency?
Plant scientist Monica Schmidt: By modifying only one gene, a new variety of soybeans has higher levels of beta-carotene than ...
Talking Biotech: Using plants as ‘biofactories’ for vaccines, biofuels and more
Plant biologist Beth Hood: Scientists are genetically modifying plants to produce ingredients for a variety of important industrial and therapeutic ...
Podcast: How anti-GMO activists used ‘fake news’ to attack University of Florida plant scientist Kevin Folta
In this episode, [Liz Haswell and Ivan Baxter] talk to Kevin Folta, Professor and Chairman of the Horticultural Sciences Department ...
Talking Biotech: How rice became one of the world’s most important food crops
Rice geneticist Susan McCouch: How and where rice was domesticated, and how many varieties are there? ...
Viewpoint: 6 reasons to reject the Environmental Working Group’s misinformation on food and pesticides
1. It creates a false sense of food risk where next to none exists. They are not a testing organization. They ...
Talking Biotech: The genetic factors that makes sweet corn sweet
Geneticist Curt Hannah: Sweet corn was specifically discovered and selected because of its sweetness. But how does a kernel of ...
Viewpoint: House Democrats’ ‘glyphosate-is-dangerous’ report shows liberals can be science deniers too
The discussions around agricultural technologies, especially herbicides, are nuanced and complex. So if someone gets the basic information completely wrong, ...
‘Boneless watermelons’? What this new ‘hot fruit’ can teach us about non-GMO labels and fear-based marketing
Nowadays labels extol the absence of something that never was there in the first place. Such marketing schemes manipulate the ...
Talking Biotech: ‘Farm Babe’ Michelle Miller takes on critics of GMOs, modern farming
Writer Michelle Miller: The 'Food Babe' is critical of those who marginalize farmers and farming, and a powerful voice for ...
Talking Biotech: Can Oxitec’s genetically engineered insects combat fall armyworm crop damage and famine in Africa?
Oxitec's Simon Warner: Engineered male fall armyworms contain a gene that prevents female offspring from reaching adulthood, reducing wild pest ...
Video: Are GMO crops and organic farming necessarily at odds?
GMO vs Organic... The ultimate food fight right? Not really. Lots of GMOs could be grown organically, and lots of ...
