Notable Ariticles (Jan-26-2014)

Where is the licensing burden heaviest?: Top 3 are apparently preschool teacher, athletic trainer, and earth driller. Bus drivers also make the list…Source: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/01/where-is-the-licensing-burden-heaviest.html

5 Things To Ponder: Valuations, Triggers & Inequality: pretty much congregates the bearish notes on the internet… Source: http://pragcap.com/5-things-to-ponder-valuations-triggers-inequality

Country share of world ship deliveries: http://pragcap.com/thinking-outside-the-emerging-markets-box

Uber and disruption: Pretty cool disruptive cycle described by the author. I wonder how many big boxes and media companies are on the cusp of phase 1 and 2?...Source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/19/uber-and-disruption/

New Monsento Vegetables: So, crossbreeding, is it genetic modification?...Source: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/new-monsanto-vegetables/

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S NOT GMO

Agriculture giant Monsanto may be best known for genetic modification—like creating corn that resists the effects of Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup. But when it comes to fruits and vegetables you buy in the store, genetic modification is off the menu. Monsanto thinks no one will buy Frankenfoods, so the company is tweaking its efforts—continuing to map the genetic basis of a plant’s desirable traits but using that data to breed new custom-designed strains the way agronomists have for millennia. Here’s how it works—and how the results differ from GMO crops. Thanks to this cross between high and low tech, a new era of super-produce may be upon us. —Victoria Tang

The Old Way
 Identify plants with recognizable, desirable traits.
 Crossbreed those plants together.
 Grow the offspring.
 Wait to see if the traits show up. Repeat as necessary.

The Genetic Modification Way
 Identify plants or other organisms with recognizable, desirable traits.
 Isolate the genes that manifest those traits.
 Use enzymes to clip out those genes and paste them into the genomes of other plants, or inject them using a “gene gun” (for real) or by piggybacking them on a bacteria or virus.
 Grow the plant with the inserted gene. If the gene has successfully incorporated into the plant, you’ll have a novel phenotype.

The New Monsanto Way
 Identify plants with recognizable, desirable traits.
 Crossbreed the plants.
 Sift through the offspring genome for known markers for desirable traits.
 Grow only the plants with those markers.