Imitations: On GMOs and Concrete

Now that Stephen Colbert has put his alter ego to bed, some of you may be missing broadcasters pretending to be someone else. Well, apparently, Colbert is not the only imitator out there. University of Florida Horticultural Science professor, Kevin Folta, invented a persona for his podcast, the Science Power Hour with Your Host Vern Blazek. Our guest today is Brooke Borel, a journalist who recently wrote about how, in interviewing himself, Blazek (or Folta) criticized anti-GMO activists and stirred up some controversy. Borel and host Alex Wise talk about the fake podcast persona, about how the Folta/Blazek position on GMOs has erupted into a firestorm, and how one unassuming podcast has raised much larger issues around the need for transparency when big business and academic science co-mingle.

For the second half of our show, we look at a very different sort of imitation. We revisit a discussion with geologist, biomineralization expert, and entrepreneur, Brent Constantz. He tells us about a process which mimics lobster shell generation, transforming carbon dioxide to a calcium carbonate base that can be used as cement or concrete.