Dan Riskin - October 20, 2023

Evolutionary biologist Dan Riskin graces This Is Going Well, I Think today. A conversation about Johnny Cash brings up Malcolm Gladwell’s ten thousand hours concept, and Dan weighs in on that. Dan talks about his interactions with Robot Skeleton on the Craig Ferguson show, then brings up how, using CRISPR technology, scientists have genetically modified silkworms to produce "spider" silk that's six times stronger than Kevlar. David asks, what would prevent rogue scientists from using CRISPR technology for evil? Dan explains a little more about how the technology works and how malicious actors may abuse it. David then takes aim at Erlenmeyer, Bunsen, and Venn, of flask, burner, and diagram fame, respectively. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices