Stefan Helmreich & Heather Paxson on Perils & Potentials of Microbial Abundance, February 2011

Cheese as biotechnology? The BP oil spill as symbiopolitical soup? This presentation asks questions big and small, from “Are we alone in the universe?” to “Why can’t I buy raw milk camembert at the store?” Anthropologists Heather Paxson and Stefan Helmreich, both of MIT, examine the evolving conversations around microbes among food producers and oceanographers. These tiny, yet powerful, creatures pit the FDA against artisan cheese makers and renew NASA scientists’ hope of finding extraterrestrial life. Dive in and learn what Arctic sea ice and winnimere cheese have in common!