thinkness - evolution by and for the people Archives

"evolution by and for the people" archive

Biting Reason's hand - Conrad Lichtenstein puts forward the good scientist's perspective in a column defending genetic engineering against attacks like those described in the previous post. Reason is what brought us out of darkness; why should we stop here when it can do... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 0 Trackbacks | 154 Comments

Beer-o-tech - Quite interesting AP article on the development and marketing of a Swedish beer that uses some genetically engineered corn. No indication what the hell these folks are thinking trying to sell this in Europe, but hey, it's their company. At... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 1 Trackbacks | 147 Comments

That transgenic glow - Catching fireflies at night, like playing baseball in late afternoon, or splashing around a pool with the sun at its blazing apex, is one of the idyllic images of many childhood summers. Would-be entomologists pluck the glowing marvels from the... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 0 Trackbacks | 157 Comments

Mendo's footsteps - When Mendocino County proposed an initiative outlawing transgenic crops, biotech companies shat a brick, thinking the idea mights spread, so they spent $600k -- 6 times as much as the supporters -- in a losing effort to defeat the ban.... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 2 Trackbacks | 116 Comments

Smart animals? - Recent research shows two genes whose evolution was apparently pretty important for the emergence of our whopping human intelligence. Will scientists soon take, say, 50 genes tied in with high intelligence, put them in a pig, and make a really... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 2 Trackbacks | 174 Comments

Anglophone GM-phobia - Sure, we Americans love technology and are relatively happy to take biotech foods. But the Aussies and Canucks are not diving in so eagerly. An interview with the vice president of the National Farmers Union of Canada shows they've tried... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 1 Trackbacks | 94 Comments
Better bananas through biotech - The bananas we currently eat are all from the same breed, the Cavendish. In fact, these bananas are all identical twins, planted and grown from clippings of sterile banana plants. Over the past few decades that almost the entire world... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 14 Trackbacks | 105 Comments

Drugs? Genetic engineering!? Run for the hills!! - After a big pot bust, the San Diego Union-Tribune says, "Most of the cannabis, which was genetically engineered to be considerably stronger than ordinary marijuana, was grown in rental properties in such residential areas as Del Mar, Mira Mesa and... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 2 Trackbacks | 197 Comments

Extinct-o-Fish - Experiments by a group at Purdue found that the release of a genetically engineered fish into the wild could, conceivably, lead to the fish's extinction. They were working with a fish called a medaka that was genetically engineered to grow... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 8 Trackbacks | 181 Comments

Mendo no GMO - You know how there's dry counties around the American South? Well, now there's a no-GMO county: Mendocino, California, which illegalized transgenic crops through a referendum, despite the fact that a big biotech trade group spent the better part of a... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 8 Trackbacks | 150 Comments

Life and death, GMO-style - Another interesting trend in genetic engineering is using the technology for targeted assassination, wiping out cells or perhaps even whole species. (And I promise this will be more interesting than yesterday's overly-detailed post.) Here is some of the bigger stuff... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 10 Trackbacks | 383 Comments

GMOs spreading - Seems to me one of the biggest issues concerning genetically engineered crops is their containability. Transgenes can certainly escape from their intended recipients. [You can use any one of a number of cliches: tough to keep a lid on, Pandora's... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 0 Trackbacks | 201 Comments

Biotech insects pt ii - A recent report on GM mosquitoes shows that they're less fit than regular mosquitos. A central argument of the pro-biotech crowd has been that genetic engineering can very specifically bring about narrow, intended changes in organisms. If so, then why... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 0 Trackbacks | 192 Comments

Biotech insects - This Yahoo! News story [I always feel a little corny using the Yahoo! exclamation point] isn't really news so much, but a little check-up story on GM insects. I suspect that biotech everythings will be popping up over the next... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 4 Trackbacks | 173 Comments

Second-best grass ever - New Scientist published a little piece on a grass genetically engineered to be hypo-allergenic. It's still years from marketability, but interesting. Consumer-oriented GMOs? Is it possible? Much more on this later...... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 15 Trackbacks | 89 Comments

Better living through genetic modification - Japanese researchers have concocted a GM coffee bean that has significantly reduced levels of caffeine. More on this to follow.... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 12 Trackbacks | 95 Comments