The Past and Future of Genetic Modification
A number of scientists hope that GM foods can be part of the solution to feeding the world, as the population grows and climate change puts crops under stress. But GM crops also inspire fierce opposition, because many people worry that they may be harmful to the environment or human health.
In the past few years, scientists have begun using CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies to alter the DNA of crops. This week, the top court in the European Union ruled that these crops should be considered GMOs, and thus be subject to the same tight regulations that cover crops produced by older methods. Except for methods that are
really old...
Confused? Well, I did my best to make sense of the situation in an article for the
New York Times.
You can read it here.
Heredity and School
I tackled another controversial topic this week: the influence of genes on behavior. Genes have an influence on just about every kind of behavior that researchers have studied, although it's often weak and indirect. The biggest study of human behavior so far came out this week--a survey of the DNA of 1.1 million people, revealing over 1200 genes linked to how long people stay in school.
Here's my story.
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: Radio, TV, and Reviews
1. Over the weekend BookTV aired a conversation I had
with the anthropologist Chip Colwell before a live audience and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science about
She Has Her Mother's Laugh.
You can watch it here.
2. The UK edition is coming out next week, and some reviews are coming out there.
New Scientist says the book "balances eloquent story-telling with well-researched science...Anyone interested in their path through history, and what they may hand on, will find much to excite them.” The book also got the reviewer for
Current Biology regaling his dinner party guests with
all sorts of strange tales of heredity.
3. On the audio front--
you can listen to my Science Friday interview here. I also talked with the Big Picture Science about how heredity can run backwards or sideways,
turning people into chimeras.
Science, Science Fiction, and Other Parts of A Healthy Book Diet
The
Boston Globe runs a column called Bibliophile, where they interview writers about what they read. I went through a bunch of books to write my own. And now I'm diving into other books to recuperate and think about what I might want to write next.
You can read my interview with them here.
Upcoming Talks
September 20, 2018 University of Bath (UK), Evolution in the 21st Century
October 4, 2018 92nd Street Y, New York: "What Makes Us Human? Panel with Maria Konnikova, Nathan Lents, and Sebastian Seung.
October 17, 2018 Colorado State University: Murray Honors Visiting Scholar Lecture (details to come)
October 19, 2018 CSICon, Las Vegas
October 25, 2018 Mount Holyoke College (details to come)
November 7, 2018 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (details to come)
November 13, 2018 House of Speakeasy, New York
November 14, 2018 Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ (details to come)
If you've enjoyed reading She Has Her Mother's Laugh, please rate/review it on your favorite book site, such as Goodreads or Amazon. Thanks!
You can find information and ordering links for my other books here. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn. If someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe to it here.
Best wishes, Carl
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