#BioHacking – ‘And science at homeso the apocalypse came upon mankind, not by way of rogue nation states or covert warfare, but from the curiosity of a teenager with an easy bake oven of tools for using CRISPR-Cas9 to tinker with A,G,T, and C in the place where he was supposed to be doing his homework.’

Check out the NYTimes coverage of this issue: NYTimes on BioHacking.


Malcolm Gladwell is clever.  Anyone who has read his books can quickly deduce this.  However, perhaps what is most clever about Malcolm Gladwell is that he recognizes that cleverness is not necessarily all about being smart.  In fact, most of the truly great things that people get credit for were not really invented by them.  Henry Ford did not invent much truly new, he just was exceptional at making it work together.  Andrew Hargadon had a recent post on his blog about this issue as well, but for every great invention / business / whatever you can name, I can find three people who could probably lay claim at the idea first. It’s not that ideas are not precious, or necessary, it’s just that they are not enough.  Malcolm Gladwell is best known for several books (Tipping Point, Blink, etc.) that take well established ideas from many domains, repackage and add new insights, and make him into an icon.  The fact that most of these ideas are not original Gladwell creations does not diminish his contribution, and he’d be the first to tell you it was not all him.  It’s about putting things together in the right context, with the right people, and sometimes the right business model.

This simple insight could be pretty influential for those who seek big ideas.  Be an idea harvester, not just an idea creator.











The government can play an important role in four key ways:

  4. Get out of the way (avoid regulatory interference)





Is everything a Remix?


Simply: breakthroughs are a myth, and copying is king.



Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.






There are a lot of stereotypes about smart people.  Most of these stereotypes are well supported with the geeks and freaks that occupy the top of the intellectual spectrum.  However, a few of the absolute intellectual elite break the mold.  Nathan Myhrvold is one of these.  He is as one-of-a-kind as people come, and he is amazing.

Let’s start with some of his geek cred.  It’s pretty good.  He started college at age 14 (ala Doogie Howser).  He graduated from UCLA having studied math and physics with bachelors and masters degrees.  Then on to Princeton, where he recieved his PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics by age 23 (now I’m thinking of the “Charlie” character from the TV show Numbers).  What does a wunderkind do with a Princeton PhD by 23?  He went to study cosmology and quantum field theory with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge.  Like most super-geniuses this was just the beginning.  He left Hawking to start a computer start-up in California, which was soon snapped up by Microsoft.  He then worked at Microsoft for 13 years, launching many of their best selling products, the Microsoft research division, and running a bunch of the company as the Chief Technology Officer (also getting filthy rich).  After leaving Microsoft he has broadened into a variety of scientific and technical ventures, and is currently wrapped up in running an ‘invention company’ called Intellectual Ventures that is shaking some of the foundations of invention with its approach to brainstorming the future of everything from semiconductors to lasers that shoot mosquitos out of the air and biotechnology (there will be a future post on their methods). He holds many patents and has published widely in the top echelons of science.

That is the geek cred, which is pretty A+ stuff.  Along the way, however, he has demonstrated an amazingly diverse and rounded taste for life.  He is a master French chef (once an assistant chef in a top Seattle French restaurant).  He is a paleontologist.  Not just a museum-dwelling paleontologist, but a get-your-hands-in-the-dirt digging up dinosaur bones in Montana every year paleotologist.  He has a complete t-rex skeleton in his living room.  He is a world champion barbecue master (winning 1st and 2nd in Memphis, TN world championships).  He is an award winning nature and wildlife  photographer.  He is an avid searcher for alien life with SETI.  He is a dad, husband, and family man.

Malcolm Gladwell once famously described him as “gregarious, enthusiastic, and nerdy on an epic scale.”  I agree.

A few years ago, when my daughter was getting ready for her heart surgery her Yale-educated doctor and I were talking about everything from obscure rock bands to the latest in medical innovations with sonic technology.  When I commented on his broad knowledge base, he laughed and said that you never want a doctor whose brain power is fully maxed out with the medical knowledge, instead opting for the doc with enough bandwidth for other pursuits as well.  Nathan Myhrvold is an example of breadth on steroids.

What is he doing now?  In addition to shooting mosquitos out of the sky to help with the malaria crisis and solving global warming (by building a shield of sulfer in the atmosphere), he has another project he is hot and passionate about.  What, you might ask?   Working on a cookbook, of course.

Solving world hunger with vertical indoor farming makes for a pretty good headline.  Add saving the atmosphere from carbon emissions and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and you will get people downright giddy.

Valcent, Inc. is one of several companies pursuing new technologies that basically super-size the idea of indoor farming into a scalable solution that may well change the landscape of agriculture in the future.  Their basic idea is to use hydroponic vertical farming to build farms on small footprints that stretch high up into the air using very-low water usage farming methods.  In trials Valcent has increased some crop yields by up to 20 times the normal production volume and only required 5% of the average water used in conventional growing conditions.  Further, due to the scalability and portability of their technology, they can build enormous farming operations very close to urban centers to make the product available fresher than ever before.  In addition, the technology is self-contained and thus can be constructed almost anywhere, including in barren landscapes that do not support traditional farming methods.  The implications for the developing world are huge, where the threats of hunger are very real.  These technologies have the potential to transform the agriculture industry (more than 50% of the economy in many countries).  Finally, the technology is also being developed to create huge algae growths that produce vegetable oils in huge quantities for bio-fuel.  Thus, in addition to solving world hunger, they may also save the planet from carbon emissions and eliminate the U.S.’s dependancy on foreign oil.  Not bad.  Its always good to have high aspirations and big goals.  Go big or go home!

One part of all this that continues to make me laugh every time I read it is the frequent references to contrast vertical farming methods with what the industry calls ‘field farming’.  Oh yeah, ‘field farming’ — the kind with miles of corn popping up in rows?  Rice paddies and potato farms?  The way that humanity has produced almost 100% of our food for 10,000 years?  Yes, that antiquated method is now referred to as ‘field farming’.  How old school.

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