The animals and plants we eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner usually bear only a passing resemblance to their ancestors. Ever since humans became farmers 10,000 year ago, we have been consciously and unconsciously modifying the organisms we eat. Many of the foods we now consider “healthy”, were once toxic to us. Our speaker will discuss the many ways that both farmers and scientists have created the ingredients of everything you find in a supermarket. You will never look at your plate the same way again!
Scott Poethig is the John H. and Margaret B. Fassitt Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. His laboratory has studied many aspects of plant development, but his primary interest is the mechanism of the juvenile-to-adult transition during shoot development. Dr. Poethig obtained his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1981 and went on to obtain post-doctoral training at Stanford University and at the University of Missouri before joining the Department of Biology in 1983. He received the Lindback Award for Distinguished teaching from Penn and has served on many advisory and editorial boards. He is a Fellow of the AAAS and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Poethig teaches a class on “The Biology of Food", and has given public lectures on the genetics and politics of food to community gardens, libraries, churches, and retirement communities.
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