Playing God with Nature | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook

TODAY IS THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009

Friday, March 31, 2006 at 10:00 AM EST

Playing God with Nature

By host Tom Ashbrook:

Word this week is that three little piggies in American labs have been cloned and genetically engineered to produce Omega-3 fatty acids. That is, pigs genetically engineered to become squealing little factories of heart-healthy bacon.

Omega-3 is the stuff that makes fish and walnuts so good for your heart. Some people don’t like fish and walnuts. So, is there any reason not to make the pigs make it?

We’ve been eating genetically modified plant crops for years. Next comes the animal kingdom. And maybe that’s great. But it has us wondering: Is there a limit to what we can and should to nature?

Hear biologist E.O. Wilson and more on how far we can meddle with nature.

Guests:

EO Wilson, Professor of Biology Emeritus at Harvard University and editor of “From So Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin” and author of “The Future of Life.”

Autumn Fiester, Senior Fellow at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Dr. Michael Fernandez, Executive Director of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology

Ivan Oransky, Deputy Editor The Scientist magazine,

Comments are closed.

Hour 2

Robots Among Us
Thursday, July 9, 2009

Robots among us. iRobot CEO Colin Angle on the business and science of robotics now.

Comments [37]

Hour 1

Stimulus, Part Two?
Thursday, July 9, 2009

Debate mounts over a “Stimulus II.” But with talk of a “fiscal train wreck,” can America afford to spend more on stimulus? Top Obama advisor Christina Romer weighs in.

Comments [43]

U.S. Nuns and the Vatican
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Catholic Church in Rome moves to scrutinize — maybe rein in — American nuns. We’ll talk with sisters on the front lines.

Comments [43]

Trouble in Honduras
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya comes to Washington for help. We’ll ask what the coup against him means for Honduras, and for democracy in Latin America.

Comments [47]

Christina Romer on the Stimulus

Christina Romer, chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, joined us in our first hour today to talk about the economy and the debate over whether a second round of stimulus is needed. Asked about Vice President Biden’s recent remarks, that the administration had “misread how bad the economy was,” she replied: “It’s important to realize [...]

Ten Minutes with Brzezinski

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski joined Tom from Washington, D.C. this morning and shared his impressions of President Obama’s first face-to-face meetings with Russia’s leaders. Brzezinski called it a “sober and realistic summit, one which didn’t create undue expectations, but one which also marked some real progress…. There was, in a sense, an unstated agreement to disagree, and that’s [...]

More » | Comments [1]

India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. After all, America emits only [...]

More » | Comments [1]