Radio Shows
2025
LA Catholic Morning Radio Interview Archives
Topic: Angst about the Future, and Young People Sterilizing Themselves
Is there an obligation to try to reverse a tubal ligation or a vasectomy? Todd, Ellen and Father Tad discuss the dropping fertility rate of couples today, and the emerging trend among some young people, even in their early 20's, to choose surgical sterilization. They consider some of the reasons why couples get sterilized. Who would want to bring children into such a troubled world, some ask, amidst wars, poverty and global warming? They discuss the joys of family life, including the sacrifices that are part of being in a loving family. They contrast it with the hopelessness and fears of those who steel their hearts against offspring, and also look at the phenomenon of “the unspoken grief of never becoming a grandparent.”
Broadcast Date: February 19, 2025
Topic: Chemically-Generated Life
Can Chemistry Be Used to Create Biological Systems with Metabolism, Replication and Compartmentalization? Todd, Ellen and Father Tad discuss a new initiative by European scientists to create simple forms of life from scratch in the lab in the next 6 years. Starting with inanimate chemicals, the researchers would like to produce metabolically active entities that grow, divide and show “Darwinian evolution” within six years. The €13mn “MiniLife” project, which is funded by the European Research Council is striving to become the first in the world to reach the minimum criteria for a synthetic living system. Father Tad discusses the 1952 Miller–Urey experiment that produced amino acids from a mixture of gases, and reviews the efforts of Craig Venter in 2010 to create novel living entities by modifying the genetics of bacteria. He argues that the likelihood of the MiniLife project succeeding, especially in 6 years time, seems very small, particularly in light of the complexity of even the most basic living systems like bacteria, and the herculean challenges involved in replicating such systems.
Broadcast Date: January 15, 2025
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