How deep and consequential can genetic engineering go? Work back from what humanity most needs. Work up from the mechanisms of Earth’s primary production—how it turns sunlight into life. All life.
Three billion people—nearly half of us--depend on rice for survival. What if you could adjust rice genetically so 1) it has a 50% greater yield, 2) using half the water, 3) needing far less fertilizer, 4) along with higher resilience to climate change? It would transform world agriculture. All you need to do is switch rice from inefficient C3 photosynthesis to the kind of C4 photosynthesis employed by corn, sugarcane, and sorghum. That switch has been made in plants 60 independent times by evolution, so we have models for how to do it. In 02008 the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, set in motion a consortium of 12 labs worldwide working on developing C4 rice. One of the major leaders of the work is Professor Jane Langdale at Oxford University’s Department of Plant Sciences. Former Long Now speaker Charles C. Mann (who is writing about C4 rice) recommended her highly. If C4 rice proves successful, it could lead to similar radical improvement for other inefficient crops such as wheat. Decades of focussed research could produce centuries in which ever less land provides ever more food, leaving ever more of the planet to nature. "Radical Ag: C4 Rice and Beyond," Jane Langdale, SFJAZZ Center, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, 7pm, Monday, March 14. The show starts promptly at 7:30pm. To be sure of a seat: • Long Now Members <https://longnow.org/membership/> can use the discount code on the Langdale Seminar page to reserve 2 free seats <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/mar/14/radical-ag-c4-rice-and-beyond/>. • You can purchase tickets for $15 each <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/mar/14/radical-ag-c4-rice-and-beyond/>. • Seminar at SFJAZZ Center <http://www.sfjazz.org/visit/directions> 201 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 • Tune into the live audio stream <http://longnow.org/live/> for Long Now Members at 7:30 PT - become a member <https://longnow.org/membership/> for just $8 a month. Share this talk: Jane Langdale, "Radical Ag: C4 Rice and Beyond" Long Now talk on 3/14 http://goo.gl/A0kUiM <http://goo.gl/A0kUiM> Talks coming up: April 11 (Mon.) - Priyamvada Natarajan, Solving Dark Matter and Dark Energy <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/apr/11/solving-dark-matter-and-dark-energy/> May 2 (Mon.) - Walter Mischel, The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/may/02/marshmallow-test-mastering-self-control/> June 20 (Mon.) - Brian Christian, Algorithms to Live By <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/jun/20/algorithms-live/> High-quality videos of the talks and other benefits (such as priority tickets) are available to Long Now members. Membership, which starts at $8/month ($96/year), helps support the series and other Long Now projects. Joinable here <https://longnow.org/membership/>. This is one of a monthly series of Seminars About Long-term Thinking (SALT) organized by The Long Now Foundation. Free audio and my summaries of all previous talks are available for download here <http://longnow.org/seminars/> (or stay up to date with the podcast here <http://longnow.org/seminars/podcast/>). You'll find a range of long-term thinking items on our Blog <http://blog.longnow.org/> (RSS <http://feeds.feedburner.com/longnow>). If you would like to be notified by email (like this one) of forthcoming talks, go here <http://list.longnow.org/mailman/listinfo/salt> to sign up online. Any questions, contact Danielle Engelman at Long Now -- 415-561-6582 x1 <tel:415-561-6582%20x1> or danie...@longnow.org <mailto:danie...@longnow.org>. You are welcome to forward this notice to anyone you think might be interested. --Stewart Brand s...@longnow.org <mailto:s...@longnow.org> -- The Long Now Foundation -- http://longnow.org/ <http://longnow.org/> Seminars & downloads -- http://longnow.org/seminars/ <http://longnow.org/seminars/> Interval Events -- http://theinterval.org/events/ <http://theinterval.org/events/> •Twitter <https://twitter.com/longnow> - up to the minute info on tickets and events •Long Now Blog <http://blog.longnow.org/> - daily updates on events and ideas •Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/longnow> - stay in touch through our fan page
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