Genes in Microbes

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We are not machines we are alive bacteria alive and you can have a whole dna sequence of a back easily but it won't do anything. One of the things that people are interested in at the moment is writing genomes producing completely novel genomes in microbes. You could create an artificial genome but you have to put it in something like a cell that has chemical processes that are already turning away yet exactly so uh...

Shermer and Cobb discuss: objections to genetic engineering (political, religious, cultural) • selective breeding • recombinant DNA • the ethics of genetics • patenting life • gene therapy • gene editing • CRISPR • literature and films on the dangers of genetic engineering • bioweapons • 3 Laws of Behavior Genetics and what people fear about it.

Matthew Cobb is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester. He is the author of six books: The Idea of the Brain: A History; Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code; Generation; The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis; Eleven Days in August: The Liberation of Paris in 1944; and Smell: A Very Short Introduction. He lives in England.