On 23 April, the folks at Tech Nation on NPR launched a new voice on the Biotech Nation part of this weekly show – BioAgenda Founder David Ewing Duncan. He is co-hosting Biotech Nation with Moira Gunn, host of Tech Nation. David’s participation is starting with a segment called "BioIssue of the Week", where Moira and David discuss a pressing issue in life sciences. David will also conduct interviews and produce other segments as time goes on. Check it out at www.technation.com.

Biotech Nation airs on 200 NPR affiliates in the US, and in 133 countries and on the Sirius Satellite Network. In San Francisco, the show airs on Sunday night at 10 pm. Short segments of the weekly hour-long show run all week on some stations. Check your local NPR station for air times.

This week we discuss the recent meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization in Chicago -- an annual extravaganza of biotech that is mostly a trade show, but can have some interesting moments. We discuss a keynote speech by former president Bill Clinton about his hopes and fears for biotech and bio-science.

Future shows:

-- The science of extending lifespan and what it will mean to live to be 150 years old

-- The return of malaria as a killer in Africa and tropics, and the development of new drugs to combat these deadly parasites using synthetic biology, which in this case is reengineering microbes to become little factories to produce anti-malaria chemicals

-- How biotech discoveries are financed to become treatments and cures, and some ideas about why the biotech industry loses about $4 billion a year

-- The role of personality in science -- how ego, creativity, quarkiness, and gumption in scientists drive new discoveries

Thanks for listening!