Illumination 2.0

Today I submitted a manuscript for publication and another one is close.  It is Memorial Day, a holiday where we are not supposed to be at work, but I was so happy to spend my day in the office with people from my lab.  We also met with a prof from another department.  We might have a solution for those antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  You'll love this...  More to come.  On my way home I stopped at the one big grocery store in town  and saw "Green Cooking Banana" in the produce section.  I've learned that 400 million people eat this every day.  When the guy at the checkout told me that the bananas were really small and hard, I told him, "That's just the way I want them." His eyes rolled. I told him that "400 million people eat this every day."  When I returned home I read horrible things about me on Twitter. Seems that Natural News has re-posted the garbage showing up on GM Watch last year. Again, it is designed to harm my reputati...

Readers of this blog may think that my whole professional career is dedicated to debunking bad science and teaching about biotechnology.  The funny part is, that is probably 5-10% of what I do.  I'm the Chairman of a fruit/veg crops department that is among the world's best.  I lead a great research program in how light can make plants more nutritious and how different genes shape plant flavor.  I mentor postdocs, grad students and undergrads, along with many visiting scholars.  This weekend five things happened: 1. Friday, another FOIA request for my emails.  2.  A note that one of my former undergrads that she is now Chief Science Officer for a company in neurogenomics. 3.  A Facebook post from another former undergraduate that she has completed veterinary school.   4.  A post from my current undergrad saying that she is heading off to Haiti to help run a youth leadership camp, and that she's doing a fundraiser.  5.  ...

In this week's Talking Biotech Podcast : Chipotle proudly serves it.  The Vermont GMO labeling rules exempt it. Still 95% of cheese is manufactured from enzymes created through recombinant DNA technology. These GMO-derived enzymes are tremendously beneficial to the process.  Young cow stomachs are not needed and the prices are lower because the enzymes are abundant.  Levi Gadye is a graduate student in neuroscience and science writer.  He recently wrote an article on cheese enzymes in Gizmodo, and joined us in talking about cheese.  Kavin Senapathy co-hosts. In the second part of the podcast I cover the continued FOIA requests for my emails and do a quick review of the National Academies of Science scholarly review of genetic engineering released last week.

Another often-used tactic to harass scientists is the creation of multiple accounts in social media by one person.  These are then used to create the illusion of multiple interests with a common theme of a unified argument against a scientist or idea. They are used to post defamatory and false information and propagate it using Twitter's powerful reach. These highly coordinated troll attacks are likely orchestrated by a single person that creates a series of accounts that interact and reinforce each other.  It creates an illusion of a codified message, when it is just one nutcase stirring the pot.  It happened before, and after years of abuse an internet sleuth figured out who it was.  She is a professional in California. When I was out there I met with her and she told me all about how it was a guy she was renting to that would use her computer. Sure. I've never posted her name or taken legal action.  Both are still on the table. Stupid High Road.  ...

What started as a joke between friends has gone a little haywire.  SciBabe Yvette is a friend and she was shocked that her personal emails were being sought by The Food Babe Vani Hari. The idea was a simple one.  Florida has loose laws, so the FB wants to exploit that to get personal info on others, using me as the weak link.  So when Yvette threatened to send me a cat picture every day I thought it was funny.  I sent one back to her.  If our personal emails are Public Records...  This ended up being discussed elsewhere online.  Yvette and I had a short conversation about it on her Facebook page and then things sort of took off.  It is good to share niceties with a friend.  Sad that they become part of a record handed to activists.  I'm at a conference and have been barely present online.  Today I opened my emails to find hundreds of pictures of cats.  That's fine, but maybe cool it.  Most of all, please d...

First, some rules.  Please do not retaliate or harass her.  Respect her privacy for one reason-- I can tell you personally how horrible it is to have someone not respect mine. I do not want her to feel the way I do, because of her.  There's some Sunday irony. Thanks. On Friday afternoon most folks watch that clock as the minute hand clicks toward five o'clock.  Last Friday, I got the email that my university had filled another public records request , again from the Food Babe, Vani Hari, and spent the next few hours going through what they plan to send to her.  Why is she going after me?  Did I say something wrong?  Is something in my publication record not panning out and she suspects undue influence?  No.  This is a personal, malicious, expensive attack for one reason-- It is because I corrected her.   I stood up when she visited my campus and lied to the students I am responsible to teach.  The most recent request...

This week's Talking Biotech Podcast... The African Swine Fever Virus is a devastating pathogen that leads to fatal disease in domesticated swine.  Scientists at the Roslin Institute led by Prof. Bruce Whitelaw have made an important advance for domestic pig health and welfare.  Wild African pigs like warthogs do not get the disease.  Researchers at Roslin have studied the genes associated with viral infection, and found what is likely a critical difference between the wild and domestic pigs.  Using new gene editing technology, the change in wild pigs has been created in domestic pigs, and they will be tested for resistance to the virus this year.  This example is one of may that is coming in animal, plant, and fungal genetic improvement through gene editing.