Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Jane Calvert, et al. | The MIT Press, 2017 | Book
This is a great discussion on the intersectionality between synthetic biology and design. There are six boundary-crossing collaborations between artists and designers and synthetic biologists from around the world, some of which are fictional, that help us understand the current and future possibilities.
United Nations, 2015 | Explore
The United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals include synthetic biology as part of the solution to address eight of these objectives: clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, industrial innovation, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible production and consumption, life below water and life on land.
Mike Berners-Lee | Cambridge University Press, 2019 | Book
Increasing energy year over year, and we're now in the Anthropocene where it is humans who are affecting the planet. We can live better than ever … if we don't destroy our planet in the meantime. Because our challenges are now global and intertwined, we cannot look at just the science or politics or economics, we must look at everything together.
Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything with Russ Altman | 2017 | Listen
This is a great podcast on The Future of Everything radio show, where Stanford bioengineers Russ Altman and Christina Smolke discuss advances in our ability to create medications and the implications it could have for billions of people worldwide in the not-too-distant future. There are many examples of how synthetic biology in a bottoms-up approach can drive better medicines and other molecules, from cancer drug Taxol to painkillers.
Chris Mooney, John Muyskens and Carolyn Van Houten | The Washington Post, 2019 | Article
A groundbreaking series and a must-read piece of Pulitzer prize-winning journalism talking about the impacts on the present, and the future we face with climate change, and why we must take action at scale as we are very close we are to irreparable damage.
Michael Lewis | W. W. Norton & Company, 2019 | Book
This book is about what happens when you neuter a key government function. In this book, it was fictionalized as the Department of Energy. It is an eye-opening story about how willful ignorance can play a role in looming disasters like climate change. Knowledge can make life more difficult. It can also help us problem solve our way out of disaster. Awareness is key.
Amanda Gorman | Viking Books, 2021 | Book
Amanda Gorman inspired a nation with her poem on Inauguration Day. Her words push each of us to check ourselves, our perceptions and our actions, always working toward positive change. She has a way with words that acknowledges difficulty yet emboldens us to move forward. While the world is facing many grand challenges, "there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it."
