About
Dr. Barry Starr is a Geneticist-in-Residence at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA and runs their Stanford at The Tech program. The program is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Stanford Department of Genetics and The Tech Museum of Innovation. Together these two partners created the Genetics: Technology with a Twist exhibition.
Read his previous contributions to QUEST, a project dedicated to exploring the Science of Sustainability.
Website: http://www.thetech.org/genetics
All Contributions by Dr. Barry:
Saved From Living Death: How Genetically Modifying Chestnuts Could Bring Them Back
The American chestnut was the king of the trees in forests in the eastern U.S. until a fungus from Asia brought them down. We are getting very close to making a resistant American chestnut. Now the question is whether or not we should plant it out in the wild.
Post on May 20, 2013
Scrounging for Research Dollars
If you’re a scientist these days, getting the money to do your research is a lot like getting into Stanford or Yale. Assuming you aren’t rich or connected, being incredibly skilled, hardworking and accomplished isn’t enough. You need to get lucky too.
Post on May 06, 2013
Fund Basic Research, It’s For Your Own Good
The budget proposal by the Obama administration is a mixed bag in terms of funding for science.
Post on Apr 22, 2013
DNA Ancestry Tests: Simultaneously Powerful and Limited
Don’t count on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ancestry tests giving you a broad understanding of your own family history. They won’t.
Post on Apr 08, 2013
Resurrection Biology: The Reality of Bringing Back Extinct Species
There has been a lot of buzz of late about bringing back extinct species like mammoths or passenger pigeons. While it might be a good idea to start thinking about these possibilities, we are years or even decades away from being able to actually pull this off with most long dead animals. The problem isn’t [...]
Post on Mar 25, 2013
Engineering a Virus-Free Future
I have been reading a book called "Regenesis" where in one part the authors propose a way to re-engineer the human race so all people are resistant to all viruses, known and unknown. This will theoretically be possible in the next few decades (or even sooner) and, if done right, is predicted to make us resistant for a very long time and possibly even forever.
Post on Mar 11, 2013
Genetic Sleuthing, Or How To Catch The Right Identical Twin Criminal
There are unique DNA differences between identical twins that scientists can use to tell them apart. Why isn't law enforcement using these differences to catch their criminal? Because the cost is too high.
Post on Feb 25, 2013
Lighten Up, California: Why GloFish Can't Glow in the Golden State
One of the more popular exhibits at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose is the wetlab. The exhibit is getting a little long in the tooth so I was looking for ways to give it a bit of a refresh.
Post on Feb 11, 2013
Comments Do Matter (So Get Talking!)
Back in December I wrote a blog post asking scientists to comment online more often.
Post on Jan 28, 2013
Pregnancy and Paternity: New Fetal DNA Testing
Imagine you are a woman in a committed relationship. The worst happens and you are raped and become pregnant. What are your options?
Post on Jan 14, 2013
Should I or Shouldn't I? Wrestling with Giving Genetic Tests as Gifts
When 23andMe offered their DNA test for just $99, I started to think about giving it for Christmas presents.
Post on Dec 31, 2012
Knowing Neanderthals
One of the more interesting things to come out of all the cheaper, more robust DNA sequencing technology has been our deeper understanding of human history.
Post on Dec 17, 2012
Wanted: Scientist Comments
If you’ve ever talked to a scientist, you know they usually have pretty strong opinions that they are not shy about expressing. Except, apparently, in the comments section of general science blogs. Here the silence is scary and, depending on whether these comment sections matter or not, potentially dangerous.
Post on Dec 03, 2012
Turkey Trouble: Genetics Gone Too Far?
No, this isn’t a blog about genetically modified organisms — that has been argued enough lately! Instead, in honor of Thanksgiving, I want to talk about regular old selective breeding and the monsters it can create.
Post on Nov 19, 2012
Frankenstein vs. Godzilla: What’s in Your Cereal Bowl?
In all of the recent discussion about genetically modified (GM) foods here in California, we’ve overlooked regular foods and how new traits are found (or created) in them. There isn’t usually a monk lovingly breeding peas in the Austrian countryside somewhere. Instead, more often than not, there is someone blasting a seed with radiation and/or harmful chemicals.
Post on Oct 31, 2012
Be HEARD: A Rare Disease Science Challenge To Find Cures
Curing or even finding treatments for rare diseases is hard. Not necessarily because these diseases are any more complex than more common ones. It has more to do with the fact that there is very little profit to be made in helping people with these diseases.
Post on Oct 22, 2012
Who is Qualified to Decide Scientific Matters?
In November, California voters need to decide whether or not GM foods should be labeled as such. They are making this decision even though a recent study shows that 49% of the people surveyed think that GM foods have genes whereas regular foods do not. Is this any way to run a democracy?
Post on Oct 08, 2012
Genome 3.0: ENCODE Takes Our DNA From Junk to Treasure
New research is making us rethink how our DNA works – again.
Post on Sep 24, 2012
The Results Are In For My Genetics Quiz
In my last blog entry, I wrote a quiz that tested some basic knowledge about genetics that experts have found the public struggles with. What I found from the responses I received is that the QUEST public doesn’t struggle with them or, more likely, people only answer quizzes like this if they are pretty confident [...]
Post on Sep 10, 2012
Arm Yourselves for the Upcoming (Genetics) Revolution
As a nation, we aren’t teaching the right genetics in our schools. And for those of us out of school, the situation is, if anything, even worse. By and large we lack the fundamental knowledge needed to properly interpret the avalanche of data headed our way.
Post on Aug 20, 2012
