Friday’s Elk, July 14, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Greetings! I’m taking a summer break, but I wanted to let you know about a couple of new pieces of audio for your listening pleasure.

–This week, I spoke with BBC World Service’s show, “The Inquiry.” The title of this week’s episode is, “Is Gene Editing Out of Control?” I told the story of how we got to the point where we can even ask that question.

–At last month’s Aspen Idea Festival, fellow science writer Ed Yong and I had a lively conversation in front of a live audience about the many ways science undermines our notion of ourselves as individuals. We roved over new discoveries about the human genome, microbiomes, and brains. You can listen to the hour-long recording here. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, July 14, 2017” →

In Neanderthal DNA, Signs of a Mysterious Human Migration

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The New York Times, July 4, 2017

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With fossils and DNA, scientists are piecing together a picture of humanity’s beginnings, an origin story with more twists than anything you would find at the movie theater.

The expert consensus now is that Homo sapiens evolved at least 300,000 years ago in Africa. Only much later — roughly 70,000 years ago — did a small group of Africans establish themselves on other continents, giving rise to other populations of people today.

To Johannes Krause, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Human History in Germany, that gap seems peculiar.

Continue reading “In Neanderthal DNA, Signs of a Mysterious Human Migration” →

Friday’s Elk, July 1, 2017

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

A number of people just signed up this week for Friday’s Elk–I’m guessing after seeing a link to it in my Reddit Ask-Me-Anything session on Tuesday. Welcome!

Just so you know, I use this email to keep interested folks up to date with my writing and talks. And, taking a page from science writer Ed Yong (who puts out a superb email newsletter), I’m going to start sharing the science-related things I’m consuming–articles, podcasts, etc.–that I consider particularly link-worthy. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, July 1, 2017” →

Fire May Be the Only Remedy for a Plague Killing Deer and Elk

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The New York Times, June 26, 2017

Link

Mark D. Zabel wants to set some fires.

Dr. Zabel and his colleagues are developing plans to burn plots of National Park Service land in Arkansas and Colorado. If the experiments turn out as the researchers hope, they will spare some elk and deer a gruesome death.

Across a growing swath of North America, these animals are dying from a mysterious disorder called chronic wasting disease. It’s caused not by a virus or bacterium, but a deformed protein called a prion.

Continue reading “Fire May Be the Only Remedy for a Plague Killing Deer and Elk” →

Understanding the Genetics Revolution

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Aspen Institute, June 25, 2017

Link

What is CRISPR and why is it important for the average American to know about it?

CRISPR is a technology for rewriting DNA. Scientists discovered a natural version of CRISPR in bacteria, which use it to attack viruses by garbling their genes. They then tinkered with the molecules until they could make changes to the DNA in just about any organism, be it a fly, a tomato, or a human. Genetic engineering is nothing new — scientists started making controlled changes to DNA in the 1970s — but until now, the technology has been crude. CRISPR, on the other hand, is quick, versatile, fairly precise, and cheap.

Continue reading “Understanding the Genetics Revolution” →