Entries by Marc Defant

Exterminating invasive species with gene drives

I can’t rave enough about Jennifer Kahn’s recent TED talk entitled Gene Editing Can Now Change an Entire Species.  The talk summarizes the new power of gene drives to eradicate malaria, dengue and yellow fever, and other dangerous diseases spread by insects.  It is truly a brave new world.    CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short […]

May 18, 2016 /15 Comments/by

Loss aversion

Daniel Kahneman I was struck by the vagaries of the lottery while watching a report on ABC News.  A wiley reporter asked several people if they would sell their Powerball ticket for $4 doubling the $2 they paid for it.  Each person refused the offer and seemed quite incredulous that the reporter would even ask. […]

May 14, 2016 /13 Comments/by