ug in this cassette and have the energy production for the cell. so we are defragging, and that is more complicated than it might seem as well. but the point is to get to where we can start to do the design from the known components to start to build new things for. these are the early baby steps that allow us to start accelerating the design and building of new organisms for very specific manufacturing purposes. >> let me run through some of those purposes. you would think that pollution-eating bugs, fuel-producing bugs that urinate diesel or gasoline, toxin-eating bugs medicine-producing bugs, you would then put them in the air and the water and the land. the first question that comes to my mind is, how hungry are we about to be or how energy needy

or how anxious for fresh water that this would be something that politicians would bless? do we need this? >> our plan is not to add them back to the environment. i think that would be a mistake to do. as you know, we sailed around the globe picking samples in the ocean and the and sequencing the organisms there. over 40% of our oxygen comes from those algae. we wouldn't want those replaced by algae that produce a whole lot of oil instead of oxygen to say give us an oily goo in the oceans. these would be organisms that in fact within that lives outside of the laboratory or outside a production environment and that is an important part of our design is building these so they can't survive on their own. but we are thinking of industrial manufacturing and

applications. so, for example, you can convert sugar into almost anything. we are working on designing new pathways that don't exist in nature for making the chemicals that go into plastic bottles. right now that comes from oil, a byproduct of oil production, so it's adding to the pollution taking oil out of the ground. we burn some of it and reduce into chemicals and plastic bottles. if we make the same chemicals from sugar, we convert them to a renewable chemical and are able to recycle all of the ways we use them. so we also have the algae that grow in the desert of the synthetic genomics that use sunlight and carbon dioxide, so they are pulling co2 out of the atmosphere and we need high doses of co2.

we have to concentrate it pumping even more in all these different chemicals including foodstuffs. >> we are talking about little things but we need a lot of fuel. is it a simple matter once you have proven the concept to scale up? >> unfortunately, none of this is simple. the hardest goals will be fuels that can compete with the cost. anytime a new biofuel approach came in the past, all of a sudden the cost of carbon out of the ground gets low again. that is what makes it impossible to pete. the only way for it to compete is for the government to create a carbon tax so we start to

realize it does not matter how cheap it is to burn coal or oil or natural gas in the long run. we cannot afford to keep doing that. at that stage, yes, it and be scaled up very dramatically. it's not cost effective to do so now. with steps, with the cost effective specialty chemicals, for vaccines, etc. >> let me ask you a lifestle question. if you are running out of food and you can create a bug or you're running out of fresh water and you create a bug that can create more fresh water or you're out of energy and can make more energy there is a theme. more, more. the alternate approach it seems to me would be to do less. have fewer babies, eat less, buy less, more gently on the earth. it strikes me like you are a more guy.

>> i can only control how many babies in my own environment. [laughter] i don't know how to do that globally. we have a tremendous challenge with all the people we keep adding to the planet. not too long, we could be 10 billion people. it's not sustainable with the approaches we are using in the consumption of everything. more is the problem. we could have less babies, but unless we are going to roll back populations, which i don't think anybody is advocating, at least not in the political arena, we have to find solutions to more food, more medicine, not at the expense of the environment but a recyclable sustainable fashion. we can support the number of

people that we do have, but only if we change how we do it. >> my last question because we're almost out of time, i'm curious about the ebola story right now. when you watch that story, since you have been involved in virology and dealing with the bird flu as well, what are we doing right at the moment and what do you think we are doing wrong? >> ebola is primarily a public health management problem. there has been numerous outbreaks in the past and they've been managed by good containment. because of the location and on the borders in a war area, those containment issues fell apart and it started spreading around. ebola isn't a lethal disease most of the time.

i understand a group at harvard has been working on treatment in africa and they are down to around 12% mortality by using good medical practices. yes, it would be great to have a vaccine to treat it, but containment is the most important thing initially. obviously in the future, as we've done with the flu vaccine we could synthetically make a vaccine very quickly, we can e-mail it around the world. you can do one of our devices to print it and it can be given locally to stop future flu pandemics from ever spreading. that has to be done disease by disease. >> i would love to tell the audience -- this guy is working on a digital biological converter, which if somebody is sick and vomiting and stuff you

can scoop up the poop, figure out how the virus is contracted, send the genome to a lab anywhere in the world, and they can come up with a vaccine and send it to you digitally and you can make it where you live. one day soon, never, maybe? >> one day soon. we can actually do that right now with newly emerging flu vaccines. the u.s. has a stockpile of a vaccine. it is the first synthetic dna vaccine that my team at the institute did. it proves the paradigm can happen, so we have a stockpile of the new vaccine before a single case has occurred in the u.s. for the first time we are ahead of the game, instead of trying to play catch-up. it's a matter of working out the

right to basis of the basis of the disease. one size does not fit all, but the future will be rapidly emailing these around, downloading them, and blocking the transmission, and we should be able to eliminate future pandemics. >> santa claus has very little on this guy. his presents are huge and fascinating. we are out of time, santa. everybody say goodbye to him applause-wise so he can hear you. [applause] >> now a discussion concerning the activities and oversight of college fraternities answer already is. from today's "washington journal," this is about 35 minutes.

kevin, why was this established? guest: the political action committee was started in 2005 and its mission is to help elect fraternity and sorority alumni to congress, people who believe in the fraternity and sorority experience. its first 10 years of operation, it raised $2.1 million for federal candidates. 85 one of the focuses is making sure that women who are historically underrepresented in congress and sorority women in particular, have the resources

needed to be competitive in electoral races. it is a bipartisan political action committee, approximately 145 members of congress who were in a fraternity or sorority. after being in the boy scouts, the second-most common shared experience of members of congress. those 145, 60% republican, 40% democrat. 40% democrat. host: is it just elections that your pac host: is it just elections that your pac works for, are there issues or legislation before congress you advocate for or against? government relations. it includes the north american in a fraternity conference, which represents men's fraternities and the national panel in a conference best analytic -- the coalition spends his time advocating on behalf of college students in washington d.c.

they believe they are the collective voice, not only for paternity and sortie undergraduates, but for many other students. they were got a range of issues, from college affordability which has been much in the news. to campus safety issues, to preserving the value of charitable giving for donors who give to organizations that support students and their participation in student organizations like fraternities and sororities. and other issues hazing substance abuse, those types of things. they are very involved with their members of congress and very active in advocating for students. host: let's get to the issue in the news. students at the fraternity sae at the university of oklahoma participating in a racist chant. your reaction to that tape and the subsequent fallout. guest: obviously, like anyone else, what you see on tape is

deplorable and repugnant. start with the things that the university of oklahoma and sigma alpha epsilon got right, because they are numerous. i commend the national leaders of sigma alpha epsilon, who i know well for their handling of the situation. as soon as this video came to light, their executive leadership team met and followed the procedures outlined in their organizations bylaws and constitution's. they went through recognition. they have been supportive of their chapters nationwide who are suffering from being associated with the chapter locally at oklahoma. what is important for folks to understand that sigma alpha epsilon, like every national fraternity and sorority, has high standards for their members and their chapters. in taking these actions this week they are enforcing the standards and demonstrating to the rest of their members and

chapters a you must live up to those standards. all the private commentators agree, they are all within the rights to take the actions they took this week. when you turn to the campus, i have been extremely impressed, and most observers have been impressed by the way that community has come together and rally against racism. it is notable that the football and asked about team took time out from practice -- football and basketball teams made it clear to the world that the students bodies -- didn't bodies reject racism. a noted leader, a former senator , of great renown, probably one of the nation's most prominent university president, he has been very involved in this action. a lot of people understand his decision to expel the students at the center of the video.

it seems like that might not be on very firm legal ground, they undercut the freedom of association and freedom of these rights of those students. it will be interesting to see as you might have seen, some of the students and some members are looking at legal representation, maybe suing the university down the line. host: if you want to join this conversation, democrats can call in at 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. and dependence, -- independence, 202-748-8002. guest: can i add one more thing about the university of oklahoma? things like this spread across social media, and one of the things that struck me very -- a very public letter written by the president of another chapter at the university of oklahoma, the president of five delta

theta, an african-american member of the greek system. made some outstanding points and i encourage folks to find acting medications on facebook, or twitter. he talked about how the afghan american and the greek experience -- african-american experience any greek experience are one or him at the diversity of oklahoma. he rejected the thought that sigma alpha epsilon was representative of the university of oklahoma, what happened in that video or, in the broader context of the greek world at large. he talked about how the media focuses on that outlying events instead of small, daily acts that fraternity and sorority members do to help their communities every day. we have gotten far more attention for a stated of video that for the efforts than the students took to raise half $1 million for a local hospital. host: some critics saying this

is not necessarily an outlier of evidence for the histories of fraternities in this country. a headline from the "washington post." a piece in today's "new york times," for attorneys can't fix themselves. what would your reaction be? guest: you can take that and change it to higher education. what was higher education like at the time he is talking about? there were very few americans that went to college anytime he is talking about. they were generally speaking people of privilege. all organization on those campuses were reflective of eastern body. fraternities and stories can

only examine the from the student body on that campus. we are only reflective of the diversity available on a campus to us. host: maryland, larry, line four democrats. good morning. caller: i am listening with interest. i agree -- everybody is entitled to free speech, but i encourage people to find and read an article in the "washington post." it highlights the insidious effects that these types of hate speech and behavioral has down the road on people's lives. people of this -- when we are people of this character to get through the system and wind up

in leadership roles, the impact is never obvious. the discrimination and racism is subtle. which highlights what you see right now in our current -- in our country. a lot of the people came through the ranks and detected. now you have a black man in the white house, they began -- all kinds of restructuring to make the man fail. host: i will let you respond to that, kevin o'neill. the latest news out of that fraternity in oklahoma. guest: i had trouble following some of the question, but i heard the reference to eugene robinson and the peace earlier in the week. i have read most of the commentary that is out there. where fraternities and

sororities -- they have very high expectations for their members. that's what sets them apart from clubs. they set of values for their members and those do -- those members strive to live their daily lives through those values in that it in the organization -- embedded in those organizations. when they fail, their actions have consequences. their actions were soundly rejected. their fellow members of the greek community, by the broader student body, by the broader campus, it is obviously brought up an important discussion. it is important to realize that fraternities and sororities have a great deal of diversity on most campuses and in most chapters. it is an outstanding opportunity for students to grow as leaders and to learn about folks from other walks of life to live together and work together in a way that will benefit them in a number of facets going on in life.

host: do you have numbers on that diversity? guest: i don't have individual diversity numbers, because the groups themselves don't typically keep that sort of information. what i was going to tell you there was a pullout last fall by gallup, the first real, meaningful poll data, 30,000 college students surveyed, what it demonstrated was that at five different facets of life joining a fraternity or sorority had a meaningful difference in the quality of life that you enjoyed long-term, be it financial, more likely to finish your college education, more likely to be actively -- academically engaged, more likely to be engaged as a community leader or volunteer. more likely to enjoy your work in your everyday experience. we are focused on that, that is one of the reason fraternity and