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ask a biogeek
Where Are My Bioengineered Ecologies?
It's another installment of Ask a Biogeek, a column where UC Berkeley biology researcher Terry Johnson answers all your questions — especially the weird ones.Reader Daniel wonders:
As a biologist who studies whole organisms and populations, I find that more and more of biology (in terms of funding, positions and emphasis) is going to the sub-organismal level. We now have lots of cell biologists, geneticists, neurologists, biochemists, biomechanics, bioengineers and so on, but not a lot of behaviorists, population ecologists, biodemographers and others who study the emergent properties that arise at the higher levels of organization. What role, if any, do you foresee for understanding of these higher level biological phenomena in the future sci-fi-ish stuff?I believe we're rapidly reaching the point where scientists will be both ready and able to consider artificially-induced emergent biological properties — in other words, terraforming. Let me take you on a tour of today's state-of-the-art in this emerging field. More »
9:00 AM on Thu Jun 5 2008
By Terry Johnson
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Latest by Terry Johnson: @corpore-metal: For a planet with a reasonable atmosphere, it might be easier to change us than the planet. For something as desolate as Mars, I think we'd reasonably have to fiddle with the planet first, or meet somewhere in the more »
