Category: biotech in kids books

Organism Design. Minecraft Chemistry.

Organism or microbe design is an emerging industry. It’s analogous to the semi-conductor industry. Companies design and manufacture the semi-conductors found in computers, phones, cars, and televisions. Today, end-users rarely make semi-conductors themselves. They hire the expertise and apply what is manufactured to create a product. Organism design companies are reprograming yeast and bacteria to produce […]

My Futuretech Podcast Appearance

I recently appeared on a podcast talking about messagingLAB, the work we do to translate science for specific audiences, my book What’s Your Bio Strategy?, and how life sciences companies are using the blockchain. Listen on Spreaker. Listen on iTunes.

How to Create 10,000 Jobs?

How do you create 10,000 jobs? Train 500 brewers. Originally, I was going to write: Train 10,000 teachers. Despite the overwhelming need for teachers [1], the profession currently is looked down upon in the United States and people don’t understand that if you don’t invest in education, you’re not investing in the future. (Cynically, I […]

Captain Underpants, BioBuilder and iGEM: Preparing Kids for the Biotech Century

Melvin’s Li’l Scientist Wristwatch had a built-in DNA extractor. Melvin inserted the filthy toenail into his watch and programmed a complete extraction procedure while the Turbo Toilet 2000 chased him back through town… As Melvin ran screaming, his watch quickly pulverized and sonicated the toenail cells, removed their membrane lipids, proteins and RNA, and purified […]

The Pool at 4 A.M.

My father’s pool is, was, and always will be –– all skaters agree –– absurd. The pale blue surface is very hard, durable, very fast, and sentient. The coping is a great grindable bullnose. The shape is a perfect kidney, just under nine-feet deep. To ride the pool from one lip to the other across […]

20. How To Clone A Dragon 2 | Can We Bioengineer Dragons?

[For Part 1 of this series on How to Clone* a Dragon, click here.] # In the first of her two part post on How to Bioengineer a Dragon, Keira Havens, of Revolution Bioengineering, argues that there should be a compelling reason to modify a living organism to create a dragon. She points out that “it is unlikely […]

Minecraft for Teaching Biotech | Minecraft Biotech

Minecraft could be the ultimate biotech learning tool. Kids that play the game are already used to crafting – taking blocks of stone, wood, ore and creating novel tools and materials on a crafting table – and brewing – creating potions by adding ingredients to water bottles in a brewing stand. It would only take a […]

How To Clone a Dragon 1 | Can We Ever Bioengineer Dragons?

So you want to clone a dragon? Before you can clone anything you have to have a copy to work from and because dragons do not yet exist, you’re going to have to bio-engineer one first. But before you start the biological design process that will result in your dragon, you need to remember this […]

Head-Mounted Display DNA Synthesis

How will virtual reality change our view into DNA synthesis? With a head-mounted display interface to mixed reality, you will not only hold DNA in your hand, you will watch the way your modifications are translated into proteins. As amino acids are added to your protein, separate algorithms will tell you whether your product folds correctly […]

Reading Buddies

In kindergarten, first and second grade, my reading buddies were fourth and fifth graders. I started reading to younger kids when I was in fourth, fifth. But starting in sixth grade, the assignments were made by OSIS and based on reading level and  need. I read to kids all over the City. Young kids from […]