On Plants - From Genes to Genomes to Genetically Modified Foods - Video

Description

How Plants See, Feel, and Smell: The Perceptual Apparatus of the Plant Kingdom Plants sense light, touch, gravity, humidity and the myriad chemicals they encounter in the air and soil. The first lecture describes how plants perceive these signals and respond by moving and changing the way they grow, progressing from the whole plant down to its cells and molecules. The Jumping Genome: Changing Ideas about Heredity and Evolution Genetics traces its origins to monk Gregor Mendel's experiments on common pea plants. The 20th century witnessed the explosive growth of genetics from the naming of genes to the identification of DNA as the stuff of heredity by Nobel Laureates Watson and Crick to the sequencing of whole genomes. The second lecture explores the revolutions in ideas of genes and chromosomes from beads on a string to the jumping corn genes of Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock to contemporary ideas of a dynamic genome. Genetically Modified Foods: Monsters or Miracles? We're bombarded with conflicting claims about genetically modified (GM) foods. Some claim that they will provide the food to sustain humanity on an increasingly crowded planet. Others claim they're toxic to people and the environment. What are we to believe? The third lecture examines the history of food plants, describes the differences between previous and present methods of modifying them, and addresses common food safety and biodiversity concerns about GM crops and foods. These lectures were given November 11-13, 2006. Nina Fedoroff is External Professor, Santa Fe Institute; Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State. NOTE: Please excuse the production quality of some of our older videos. They were transferred from our video tape archive.