In Episode 118, Quinn discusses: the big mosquito problem.
Our guest is Dr. Omar Akbari, one of the world’s pre-eminent biotechnology and mosquito researchers.
For how afraid people are of sharks, mountain lions, or even just other people (the worst), mosquitoes have actually killed more humans than pretty much anything on the planet. Ever. So, the fact that the problem is only getting worse… really fucking sucks.
Table stakes: The increase in mosquito populations is being exacerbated by – surprise – climate change. Safe places like Los Angeles are very much not that anymore.
Dr. Akbari shares how mosquitoes came to be such a big problem, how viruses pass via their population, and the potential doomsday scenario of something like COVID-19 becoming a thing mosquitoes jive with.
He also explains how our good friend, the CRISPR, may offer a solution, the ethical problem surrounding its use, and how you can help expedite the safe rollout of futuristic answers to a very (very) annoying problem.
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Important, Not Important Book Club:
• "The Code Breaker" (https://bookshop.org/shop/importantnotimportant) by Walter Isaacson
• "Editing Humanity" (https://bookshop.org/shop/importantnotimportant) by Kevin Davies
• https://bookshop.org/shop/importantnotimportant
Links:
• akbarilab.com (https://www.akbarilab.com/)
• biology.ucsd.edu/research/faculty/oakbari (https://biology.ucsd.edu/research/faculty/oakbari)
• cdc.gov (https://www.cdc.gov/)
• oxitec.com (https://www.oxitec.com/)
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• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com (http://timblane.com/)
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