Welcome to the Origins Podcast. I'm your host, Lawrence Krause. I'm recording this introduction at home

here during the pandemic, but the episode you're about to see or hear was recorded before the pandemic.

Nevertheless, it's just as timely now as it was then. I'm also happy to say that we recorded several other

episodes before the pandemic,

so we'll be able to continue to release Origins podcasts into the future.

And I hope if you're continuing to stay home during this time,

that these podcasts will help make your time at home a little more interesting.

In the meantime, stay safe and wash your hands.

Hello, and welcome to the Origins podcast. I'm your host, Lawrence Krause. In this episode,

I'll talk to George Church, who's one of the most creative and out-of-the-box thinkers I've ever met. As a scientist, he's been a leader in the emerging field of

synthetic biology. Indeed, some call him the father of the field. He's pioneered new methods

of gene sequencing and most recently led in the development of techniques to use CRISPR

technology for genetic modification.

And his organization holds one of the fundamental patents for this technique.

Along with the biologist Craig Venter, he's helping redefine what we mean by life itself.

I talked to him in his busy office at the Harvard Medical School about this question,

as well as his proposal to use microbes, not to make fuel,

but rather to create plastics for buildings to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

The uses and concerns about CRISPR, using DNA for computer storage,

growing brains in the laboratory, and resurrecting the woolly mammoth.

Not for fun, but to help restore the flora and fauna of the far north.

We just had time to scratch the surface of what this amazing scientist is thinking about and doing and its implications for our world. I hope to have him back on again sometime.

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