GOOD NEWS: What The Hell Is CRISPR?
Back in Episode 51, Quinn & Brian asked: Are we thinking about CRISPR all wrong (and what the hell is it)?
This is one of our most popular episodes, probably because it features one of our coolest guests: C. Brandon Ogbunu, an evolutionary systems biologist with a unique perspective on data and disease, and how both were influenced by evolution and ecology.
We’ve talked about CRISPR before on the show, but if you’re not familiar, here’s a brief and overly simplistic overview of this potentially world-changing technology: it’s scissors for DNA. It’s still a very young technology — it was only patented in 2012 — but it has the potential to do everything from eliminating genetic diseases from our lineage to making our food supply more efficient and productive to creating a real-life Jurassic Park. But what can’t we do with it? And, perhaps more importantly, what shouldn’t we be doing with it? That’s what we’re going to find out today.
Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com
New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.
INI Book Club:
- From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America by Elizabeth Hinton
Links:
- Learn more at vivo.brown.edu/display/cogbunug
- Instagram: @big_data_kane
- Twitter: @big_data_kane
- Read C. Brandon’s writing: medium.com/ogplexus
Connect with us:
- Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
- Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
- Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
- Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
- Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
- Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
- Artwork by Amrit Pal
Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media
Listen On
Featured Episodes
How To Make Ethical Decisions
Has there ever been a more important time, a more consequential time, to lead with ethics? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Susan Liautaud . Susan is the author of The Power of Ethics and of the …
The Female Origin of Species
How did the female body drive 200 million years of human evolution? And why the hell are we just finding out about it now? That's today's big question, and my guest is Cat Bohannon . Cat is the author of …
Can Your Gut Predict Alzheimer's?
Can your gut composition predict Alzheimer's? That's today's big question and my returning guest is Gautam Dantas. Gautam heads up the Dantas Lab at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis . His lab works at...
What Causes Depression?
Content Warning We're going to be talking about stress and anxiety, depression, suicide, and more today. If any of this could be triggering to you in any way, please feel free to just skip over this one. Nothing in this …
How To Live A Happy Life
How can we live happier lives? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Marc Schulz, the co-author with Dr. Robert Waldinger of “The Good Life: Lessons From the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness” They're t...
Fighting Food Waste With The iPhone of Trash Cans
How much food do you throw away every week? And do you have to? That's today's big question, and my guest is Matt Rogers . Matt is a former Apple iPod and iPhone engineer . The Co-Founder of Nest thermostats …
Every Climate Action Matters
What can I do? The simple question is the underlying premise of everything we do here. It's often the easiest one to help people answer for themselves, but from the outside, it's often the most imposing. All of which is …
Clean Air Is An Inside Job
Imagine you’re in a sci-fi movie. The one where everything’s on the line . And while dinosaurs or aliens or a virus takes over down on the ground, you’re the scientist unexpectedly riding in the helicopter with the actual pre...