In this week's show we look at biotechnology and explore the promises and perils of synthetic biology and technologies like CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary new gene-editing technology that opens the door to everything from fighting diseases to designer babies. We'll also look at some of the history of biological warfare, from Solon in ancient Greece to early US bioweapons programs like Operation Sea Spray in 1950, where San Franciscans were secretly sprayed with germs by the US Navy to test germ warfare dispersal mechanisms. We'll also look at the controversial "gain of function" viral research that came out in 2010 and 2011 and sparked public backlash over the ethics of engineering a H5N1 influenza supervirus in a lab.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching. Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: CRISPR and the Future of Human Evolution

Clip 2: Engineered Viruses Are the New Biological Weapons, Here's What You Need to Know

Clip 3: Debating research into mutant H5N1 flu virus

Audio samples used in this week's show:

"CRISPR-Cas9 (Bring Me A Gene)" by A Capella Science - (c) 2016 Tim Blais & A Capella Science (MP3 on Bandcamp | YouTube Video)

"Waiting (Post Apocalyptic Remix)" by Dysfunction_AL - (c) 2013 CC-A-NC 3.0 (MP3 on CCMixter)

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews