Sunday, May 11, 2008

BioEntrepreneurial Idea: Genetic Modified Foods



My idea of a biological entrepreneurial company is a company that develops genetically modified foods. Some examples of these foods are chicken with 10 legs and plants that produce their own pesticides. The reason for the ten-legged chicken is so you can produce more drum sticks, which are many people's favorite part of a chicken to eat. The pesticide-producing plants can produce their own chemicals so people don't have to take their time spraying pesticides.
I think this will be a pretty successful company since you can produce food more efficiently and will not be a "pain in the butt." But this could also bring up controversies since its modifying animals and plants both physically and genetically. Also, it may be harmful to eat these foods, such as the pesticide-producing plants.

LINK

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Biological Breakthrough: Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, also know as TB, has been one of the world's most common and deadliest diseases. It is said that TB existed since human antiquity. It is characterized by chest pain, fevers, easily fatigued and coughing up blood. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus of TB, was identified by Dr. Robert Koch in 1882. He later received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1905 for this discovery. The first vaccine for TB was first developed at the Pasteur Institute in France between 1905 and 1921.
I think this discovery has saved many humans from dying from TB. If we did not find the cure for TB, we would still be having trouble to how to treat TB.

LINK