About Biologue
Biology in the 21st century has become a central part of our lives. Newspapers are increasingly filled with a new crop of buzzwords, ranging from "genomics" and "cloning" to "biotechnology" and "bioengineering". Despite the importance and prevalence of biological issues in modern society, the public is often uninformed in these areas, and this is often all too apparent in the public debate. Equally disturbing is the lack of discussion among the academic community regarding the implications of this research.
You shouldn't listen to Biologue because of the important topics though! You should listen because it's entertaining. Every week we cover both important and interesting topics ranging from the environment to the many uses of Viagra to how mice woo their mates.
The program is hosted by Ed van Veen and Luke Thompson. We are both PhD students in the department of biology at MIT. As such, we are colleagues of not only today's most prominent scientists, but also of some of the most promising young scientists, who will certainly occupy important and influential positions in the scientific community of the future. As members of this community, we have access to an incredibly exciting pool of possible guests, including both students and faculty.
By incorporating different viewpoints on each topic, we hope to get listeners thinking about important topics regarding research that they may not have otherwise considered. Above all, we hope to make people realize that we are at a point in our history when we cannot afford to be ignorant to the impacts of biological research. Both as citizens whose votes will determine our country's policy toward research, and as part of the academic community at MIT, we have a responsibility to understand the implications of these increasingly important issues.