Jonathan Weiner – Genetic Control

Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior

How much of our personalities are truly within our control? What is currently known about how the genes we inherit affect our behavior? The science that studies these questions is now called molecular biology. Looking at life from the genes up, molecular biology has given us insight into the hard links between genes and behavior. Seymour Benzer, a pioneer scientist who studied the genetics of fruit flies, is the hero of a book called “Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior,” by Jonathan Weiner. Weiner, who won the Pulitzer prize in 1995 for his work on the finches of the Galapagos Islands, provides a current analysis of Benzer’s genetic studies and raises questions about molecular biology the 21st century.

Jonathan Weiner recommends “The Missing Moment,” by Robert Pollack.

Originally Broadcast: May 26, 1999

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Dr. Ken Alibek – Soviet Germ Warfare Part 1

Bio-Hazard: The Chilling Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World — Told From Inside by the Man Who Ran it

Biological warfare is the use of weapons that cause death by disease. The largest and most sophisticated biological weapons program in the world, which cultivated and stockpiled anthrax virus, brucellosis, the plague and genetically altered strains of small pox, employed more than 6000 people at over 100 facilities in the former Soviet Union. For 15 years, ending in 1992, Dr. Ken Alibek, a doctor of medicine and a Ph.D. in microbiology, was the scientific leader of Bio-Preparat, the civilian branch of that secret biological weapons program, masquerading as a pharmaceutical company. In 1992, Dr. Alibek defected to the United States. Several years later, he wrote “Bio-Hazard,” a book detailing the development of biological weapons, the horrors of his former life and why he chose to defect. This is a two-part program with Dr. Ken Alibek, recorded in 1999.

Dr. Ken Alibek recommends “Prevent,” by Richard Preston & “Vector,” by Robin Cook.

Originally Broadcast: May 11, 1999 & May 18, 1999

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