First, be informed that CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, which are the tenets of a bacterial defense system that forms the basis for the tech. Then, recall that the scientists who developed CRISPR won a Nobel Prize in chemistry, and the tech’s already been used to create life-saving therapeutics.

Diamonds, leather, and meat have been consumer favorites for thousands of years, but huge advances in biotechnology have jump started their alternatives and are supercharging the sustainable and conscious market.

“Paint a picture of the American dinner plate in 2030,” suggested moderator Caroline Bushnell of the Good Food Institute to her fellow panelists.

“We’re recording for history – this [panel and audience] could be the game changer on global hunger,” said the energetic moderator, Femi Oke, an international journalist.

It’s no secret that the cannabis market is evolving rapidly, to the relief of millions of Americans and the dismay of a handful, and cannabis brands are already thinking about their future in 2050. As one moderator and multi-hyphenate Javier Hasse put it, “blah, blah, blah, cannabinoids and terpenes.”

The opening moments of this panel, featuring a video about activists’ resistance to industrial incinerators in Baltimore, made its point of view clear: Food waste is a social justice issue. In the United States, to waste food is an act of environmental racism in addition to being a major contributor to climate change.

How can technology improve the efficiency and quality of our global food systems? This is the question the SXSW panel The Tech-Enabled Food Ecosystem of the Future attempted to answer. With reps from tech companies like Google, the panelists shared ways tech and tech companies can help make the world a better place from a food perspective.

As many of the businesses and spaces that make Austin a creative capitol – restaurants, bars, music and arts venues – continue to struggle during the ongoing pandemic, City Council unanimously passed the Save Austin's Vital Economic Sectors (SAVES) resolution in mid-September.

Gov. Greg Abbott, during a press conference at the Capitol this afternoon, outlined an executive order allowing restaurants, retail stores, office buildings, gyms, museums, and libraries to increase capacity from 50% to 75%. The changes take effect Monday, Sept. 21.