The Big Fix - 9 Tech controversies to watch for in 2009

The Big Fix - 9 Tech controversies to watch for in 2009
English

Written for The Ecologist - February 2009

available online at http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=2053

Somebody somewhere has to have a cunning plan to fix our environmental problems and save the world – right? Jim Thomas sorts through the big tech ideas you’ll be reading about this year 

Hanging in Hong Kong with the Syn Bio Crowd

Hanging in Hong Kong with the Syn Bio Crowd
English

Apparently in some places they call Hong Kong "Disneyland". What better place than among the sci-fitowers of this gotham-city landscape for the brave new pioneers of Synthetic Biology to gather, plan and celebrate the next stage of artificial life. For the next few days Synthetic Biology 4.0, the fourth global congress of syn bio leaders, will be meeting at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology to discuss synthetic organisms, whole genome construction, next generation biofuels and all manner of biohackery.

Plastic Plants

Plastic Plants
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Henry Ford dreamed of making plastic cars out of soy. Now Dow, DuPont and other chemical giants are also dreaming of a ‘green’ future. But, as Jim Thomas argues, bioplastic is not the eco-solution it’s cracked up to be.

Article from New Internationalist Magazine September 2008 issue - available online here

Technofixes: Climate Solution Or Corporate Scam?

Technofixes: Climate Solution Or Corporate Scam?
English

Can science save the planet or should we avoid putting our faith in high-tech fixes to deliver us from the ecological mess we‘ve made? Jim Thomas and Paul Fitzgerald push each other’s buttons.

Read the debate here in the latest issue of New Internationalist Magazine: http://www.newint.org/features/special/2008/08/01/technofixes/

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