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SUMMARY:Bioengineering the biosphere?
DTSTART:20150126T100000
DTEND:20150126T110000
DTSTAMP:20260407T002701Z
UID:aef73620de6466a2459f248a62164ad724d16b823f1fb621553fcec5
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Ricard Solé\nAbstract:\nOur planet is experiencing an acceler
 ated process of change associated to a variety of anthropogenic phenomena.
  The future of this transformation is uncertain\, but there is general agr
 eement about its negative unfolding that might threaten our own survival. 
 Furthermore\, the pace of the expected changes is likely to be abrupt: cat
 astrophic shifts might be the most likely outcome of this ongoing\, appare
 ntly slow process. Although different strategies for geo-engineering the p
 lanet have been advanced\, none seem likely to safely revert the large-sca
 le problems associated to carbon dioxide accumulation or ecosystem degrada
 tion. An alternative possibility considered here is inspired in the rapidl
 y growing potential for engineering living systems. It would involve desig
 ning synthetic organisms capable of reproducing and expanding to large geo
 graphic scales with the goal of achieving a long-term or a transient resto
 ration of ecosystem-level homeostasis. Such a regional or even planetary-s
 cale engineering would have to deal with the complexity of our biosphere. 
 It will require not only a proper design of organisms but also understandi
 ng their place within ecological networks and their evolvability. This is 
 a likely future scenario that will require integration of ideas coming fro
 m currently weakly connected domains\, including synthetic biology\, ecolo
 gical and genome engineering\, evolutionary theory\, climate science\, bio
 geography and invasion ecology\, among others.
LOCATION:EPFL GR A3 31 http://plan.epfl.ch/?zoom=19&recenter_y=5864234.104
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STATUS:CONFIRMED
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