Last week, the first week of November 2023, I attended the 2023 World Laureate Association (WLA) meeting in Shanghai. This was the group’s first live meeting after the pandemic, and as usual, it was enjoyable and educational[1]. I enjoyed this meeting as an economist as I got exposed to the frontiers of science, where leading scholars thoroughly […]
The Strength of Science and the Vulnerability of Humanity Read More »
The year 2020 was the worst year I can recall. The pandemic that emerged in January accelerated during the late winter and early spring, stabilized in the summer, and remerged with cooler temperatures. We’ve had more than 300,000 fatalities in the US and close to 2 million globally, and the toll is rising. In addition,
My Annual Review: 2020 A Terrible Year With a Promising Ending Read More »
On May 30 I received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in Jerusalem . It is considered the “Nobel Prize” of agriculture and mathematics. Many of the Wolf Prize laureates in Medicine and Chemistry go on to receive the Nobel Prize. I was honored and humbled to get the prize – especially because I am the
On receiving the Wolf Prize and on the scholar as an intellectual athlete Read More »
I first encountered the debate on climate change in the 1980s when I helped to organize a workshop at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Our aim was to discuss the findings and implications of emerging research on climate change. As I recall there was not yet a consensus among meteorologists and other scientists about interpreting
Food Evolution is a documentary about GMOs. It is an excellent film that mixes a few compelling stories with interesting interviews that inform viewers without losing their attention. As someone that has worked in agricultural biotechnology for 30 years, I find the contents accurate and insightful. The lynchpin of the movie is the story of
Is ‘Food Evolution’ propaganda? No! Just an accessible presentation of a tough topic Read More »
Some of the key questions we raised as we celebrated the 20 th anniversary of the ICABR consortium were “why haven’t GMO crops been accepted and adopted as Green Revolution crops or medical rDNA?” “What are the constraints to the adoption of GMO?” “What are the differences among nations?” Several speakers addressed these questions and
Why agricultural biotech hasn’t reached its potential Read More »