Food made in a lab using microbes? It’s happening now! New tech can be scary and none of us are immune to being mislead or adopting a belief based on misinformation. 

In this episode Chana Davis, PhD and I discuss new and exciting food technology using microbes, and how improving scientific literacy can help to shape the conversation around food technology!

Nutrition Pearls for Science Literacy

How to develop a critical thinking mindset when reading new research or news reports of research:

  • What is my information environment? Get curious on where you get your information from
  • Read the whole article beyond the headline
  • Consider the hierarchy of evidence when starting to ‘pressure test’ news reports of studies
  • Consider the agenda
  • Look for actual expertise in the article or balance the evidence against expert consensus eg. a disease organization
  • To what extent the writer realizes the level of confidence for which they are making claims, understanding science is grey

Chana Davis is a scientist and mother of three young children who lives in Vancouver, Canada. Davis is passionate about empowering others to make choices rooted in science, rather than in fads and fears.

She completed her PhD in genetics at Stanford University, with Dr. Pat Brown (biochemist turned founder of Impossible Foods). Her thesis involved using DNA fingerprinting to study the developing gut microbiome in healthy infants. Following graduate school, Davis spent the first chapter of her career working in cancer research and personalized medicine across non-profit and biotech sectors.

Dr. Davis founded Fueled by Science in 2017 to share the research she was doing to guide her own choices. Her platform covers a wide range of topics that reflect the issues she wrestles with as she raises her family, navigates pandemic life, and strives for optimal personal health. 

We talk about:

  • How Chana got involved in science communication
  • What is a critical thinking mindset? How do you get one?
  • How to find credible sources of information?
  • What are the limitations of science?
  • Why science isn’t perfect
  • How can we ‘pressure test’ the news?
  • What is ‘food tech’?
  • How do microbes help us in making food and food ingredients?
  • What’s the future of our food?
  • Plant based diets and the movement towards new food technology for sustainability and increasing options for different dietary patterns
  • Why food technology isn’t something to be afraid of
  • Molecular diagnostics – what is it?

To learn more about Chana, here are her social links!

Website & Newsletter: https://fueledbyscience.com/

Social: InstagramTwitterFacebook (@fueledbyscience)

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