Welcome to the After-On Podcast. I'm Rob Reed, and I'm Tom Merritt. And this is a special

episode designed around the book, After-On. Each of these special episodes focuses on one

aspect of the science, tech, and social issues explored in the novel. Now, you don't have

to read after on in order to learn from or enjoy these podcasts. That's because we

wait until the very end to discuss the book in detail and to really tie it to this week's

topic. That last section will make perfect sense if you're reading the novel, but if you're

not reading it, just tune out at that point. You can always come back if you decide to

read it later. And we'll warn you before we get to that part. But first, we have a lot

of things to talk about which should be interesting to everybody. Specifically, DNA printing.

By DNA printing, we literally mean the idea of a printer that can print out DNA that can

be used in living organisms. If you're thinking, ah, Tom's talking about the novel now. Well,

no. At least not entirely. This is one of those odd situations where the truth is just

as strange, if not stranger, than the fiction you wrote.

Quite possibly. I sketched out a couple of completely plausible scenarios, fictitiously

and after on, but our guest Andy Hessel describes even more possibilities, many much more

positive than the ones that I used in the book. So let's talk with Andy Hessel about

synthetic biology and what could actually go right with it.

Andy, thank you so kindly for having me up to this beautiful spread of yours in the town

of Casadero, California. Did I say it properly? You said it correctly. And it's.

Welcome. It's towering redwoods and beautiful weather. And we are going to talk some synthetic

biology. I'd like to start with your background. If I'm not mistaken, even on leaf from your

PhD for a couple of decades now, is that correct? That's about right. And so let's talk about

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