Archive for 2024
16 posts, newest first.
The true colors of the green economy: from Rio+20 to rainforest credits
In 2011 critics warned the 'green economy' meant putting a price on nature. What followed: natural capital, offsets, nature credits, and who gets paid.
The cool, the concerned and everyone else: public voice in synthetic biology
Early synthetic biology split into enthusiasts and critics. Most people were in neither camp. What two decades of asking the public has taught.
When Europe revoked a patent on every GM soybean: questions and answers
In 2007 the EPO revoked a patent covering all GM soybeans. Why it fell, and how Europe's plant-patent fights led to the deadlock over gene-edited crops.
Biofuels and transgenics: the tortilla, the tank and who pays
Mexico's 2007 tortilla crisis was an early warning. How the biofuel push collided with food prices, how crops were bent toward fuel, and who pays.
Nanomaterials in food and packaging: what's there, what's regulated, what nobody knows
From the E171 ban to nanosilver containers: where engineered nanoparticles meet food, how rules differ by country, and which questions remain open.
Climate technology transfer: for Northern business or Southern countries?
At Copenhagen, technology transfer was the 'easy' climate issue. Fifteen years on, the patent fight is parked and the map of who makes what has flipped.
Rice, milk proteins and sick children in Lima: the Ventria trial revisited
In 2006 a US firm tested human milk proteins made in GM rice on children with diarrhoea in Peru. The trial, the ethics fight, and what came after.
UPOV 91 and seed laws, explained from the ground up
What the 1991 UPOV convention requires, why trade deals keep asking for it, and what it means for farmers who save, swap and sell their seed.
Lab life 3.0: synthetic biology's long experiment in governing itself
In 2006 synthetic biologists offered to police themselves. Eighteen years later, what has self-governance delivered, and what did it leave out?
Carbon credits from a plankton bloom: how the Planktos business model came apart
In 2007 a start-up planned to seed the Pacific with iron and sell the carbon as offsets. Why the business model failed, and what it still teaches.
The risky road to Rio+20, and what the summit actually left behind
Critics warned in 2011 that Rio+20 would hand nature to the market. What did the 2012 summit really produce, and how has its green economy aged?
Top ten seed companies, 2007 to today: how a ranking became a big four
A 2007 ranking of top seed firms already looked concentrated. Then came the 2015–2018 mergers. How the market got here, and why it's hard to measure.
Synthia and the shotgun: what became of the synthetic cell
In 2007 Craig Venter's team sought patents on a minimal synthetic organism. What got built since, what got patented, and what 'synthetic life' means now.
Gene-edited plants and the EU: what Parliament voted for, and what happens next
The European Parliament backed a two-tier regime for gene-edited plants, with a patent ban attached. What the categories mean and what still has to happen.
Reading concentration ratios in agribusiness: CR4, the HHI and what they prove
CR4 and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index explained with worked examples, and what meatpacker and grain-trader figures can and can't prove.
Vertical farming, fifteen years on: what the towers actually grew
In 2009 the 'farmscraper' promised to lift farming into city towers. Fifteen years and several bankruptcies later, what did indoor farms grow?
