Zakaria on the Innovation Race

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and host of the CNN program FAREED ZARIA: GPS, is optimistic about the economic crisis... but he doesn't pretend everything is going back to the pre-crash days.

At the Biotechnology International Organization conference in Chicago, Zakaria hosted a panel framed by the Scientific American Worldview magazine "scorecard" of global technology centers. During the panel discussion Zakaria prompted talk of America's strength based on higher education and also raised questions about our capacity to innovate.

Zakaria, who also penned the bestselling book THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD, discusses the changing face of technology, innovation and balance in a 21st century global environment...

LISTEN: FAREED ZAKARIA - BIO 2010

Bio-engineered Food & Politics

With an imbalance of agricultural resources throughout the world, genetically modified foods could likely be the difference between starvation and survival for countries without much of an agriculture industry.

Not all cultures and governments are comfortable with GM foods, however. Recently a heated debate in the fast-growing market of India erupted over the commercial release of a genetically engineered eggplant.

Dr. Bruce Chassy, professor of food microbiology and nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois argues that regulation, politics and public perception might stand in the way of feeding the world.

Chassy spoke at the Biotechnology Industry International conference in Chicago on biotech crops. When it comes to GM foods, Chassy says that safety isn't always the real issue...

LISTEN: DR. BRUCE CHASSY - THE PUSHBACK ON GM FOODS

Old Rules and New Rules for Recovery

With a Wall Street recovery making some feel better about the economy, are jobs soon to follow?

Traditional wisdom might suggest that a boost in production by American companies would ease the swelling of unemployment figures. Yet, although many economists are saying the recession ended in the summer, still others are predicting double-digit unemployment to stick around for awhile. New York times national economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman says that the old rules might not apply to the current situation.

Goodman discusses concerns over the GDP in relation to the federal debt, the concept of a "jobless recovery" and suggests some ways American manufacturing can look for a more sustainable type of growth.

LISTEN: PETER S. GOODMAN - THE END OF EASY MONEY

General Tony Zinni on the New Military Role

Anthony Zinni is maybe best known to the general public for his early criticism of the invasion of Iraq. The a former chief of CENTCOM, Zinni has had his eye on the changing face of geopolitics for a good portion of his career.

Zinni talks about how his early service in Vietnam echoes the current mission of the military in Afghanistan and why a different style of leadership is needed across political and business lines. Zinni also weighs in on the current state of Iraq with U.S. troops beginning to withdraw.

LISTEN: GENERAL TONY ZINNI

Kurt Andersen and the Reset Button

What exactly is the United States going through? Have we seen it before? Is it like the Great Depression? Is it like the end of the Roman Empire?

Kurt Andersen thinks we are at a point in time when political, economic and technological cycles have collided. As we are at a unique point in history, Andersen says, the nation is also offered a unique opportunity. He lays out those opportunities his book RESET: HOW THIS CRISIS CAN RESTORE OUR VALUES AND RENEW AMERICA. Andersen, bestselling author and co-founder of Spy magazine, based his book on the response to a Time magazine cover story titled "The End of Excess."

LISTEN: KURT ANDERSEN, RESET

Superpower Problems

It’s now (and has been) apparent that the true impact of globalization on Americans is more than just cheap stuff and a reshaped concept of domestic manufacturing jobs. In other parts of the world information access, the rise of non-state entities and many other forms of “decentralization” are creating new challenges for long-standing industrial and political powers.

Will a growing trend of decentralization start to change our idea of the United States? Has it already? These are some of the issues tackled by Paul Starobin in his book AFTER AMERICA: Narratives for the Next Global Age. In the book, Starobin suggests that current organizational trends and issues need to change for the U.S. to adapt to the changing world.

LISTEN: PAUL STAROBIN, AFTER AMERICA