Posted on May 15, 2008 by danmcgirt
Today’s world population is more than 6.6 billion people and growing. Fast. By some projections there will be 9 billion people inhabiting our planet by 2050. That may sound far off, but it is less than a single lifetime away—meaning that many of us alive today will still be alive then. Perhaps even you.
One of the many issues raised by this expected population surge is how to feed all those people. Meeting the world demand for nutritious and abundant food is a challenge today and will only grow in the future. Happily, agricultural biotechnology offers solutions, including biotech crops that increase yields and reduce crop losses due to pests. Making farmland more productive, in a sustainable way, is a good thing. Already more than12 million farmers in 23 countries have planted more than 283 million acres of biotech crops.
In this edition of BIOtech NOW, BIO’s Jackson Bain interviews two of those farmers: Advocate Mdutshane and Makhosandile Rebe, both from South Africa. Tune in and hear what they have to say about the practical and economic advantages of planting biotech crops on their land.
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Filed under: Agriculture | Tagged: Africa, Agriculture, biotech, biotechnology, crops, farming, food, hunger | No Comments »
Posted on May 13, 2008 by danmcgirt
This edition of BIOtech Now considers the role of advanced biofuels in meeting the challenge of global climate change. We present excerpts from the remarks of two speakers at the recent2008 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing in Chicago:
- Steve Koonin, Chief Scientist, BP, outlines the problem the world faces with increased emissions of carbon dioxide.
- Jacques Beaudry-Losique, Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biomass Program addresses in specific terms how biofuels can achieve greenhouse gas reductions. Beaudry-Losique says that advanced biofuels are already being produced and will reach commercial levels within the next 3 years.
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Filed under: Biofuels | Tagged: Biofuels, biomass, bioprocessing, biotechnology, climate change, greenhouse gas | No Comments »
Posted on May 6, 2008 by danmcgirt
Today we have uploaded the first edition of the BIOtech Now podcast. I interview BIO’s Daryl Pritchard about personalized medicine. I’m going to warn you now–I’m no Larry King. But Daryl has some good information to share about how advances in biotechnology will make it possible to detect, treat and prevent disease in new ways. It’s worth a listen.
Listen or Download Now (.mp3 format)
Filed under: Healthcare | Tagged: biotechology, Healthcare, medicine, personalized medicine | No Comments »
Posted on May 5, 2008 by sc
