Gene-editing technologies that alter mosquitoes’ DNA could prove critical in the fight against malaria, Bill Gates said on [April 18], and ethical concerns should not block progress in such gene-modifying research. Speaking at the Malaria Forum conference in London, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist said that while gene editing...

When will our universe reach the point of maximum entropy? And what other possibilities exist for our universe in the far future? … For our Earth around the Sun (or whatever's left of it), it will take somewhere in the ballpark of 1030 years for us to spiral into the central...

When European researchers recently announced a new technique that could potentially replace chemical pesticides with a natural “vaccine” for crops, it sounded too good to be true. ... And yet emerging technologies — including plant vaccines, gene editing (as distinct from genetic engineering), and manipulation of plant-microbe partnerships — hold...

Uganda's political system holds the key to helping farmers who are struggling with the devastating banana bacterial wilt disease. Read full, original post: Politics stand between Ugandan farmers and the banana that does not wilt

Drinking will shorten your life, according to a study that suggests every glass of wine or pint of beer over the daily recommended limit will cut half an hour from the expected lifespan of a 40-year-old. Those who think a glass of red wine every evening will help keep the...

Golden Rice was declared safe for consumption by Canada recently. This has huge implications for the rest of the world, where Golden Rice can be vital resource in tackling vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition. ... This approval comes after a robust scientific assessment done by scientists with expertise in molecular biology, microbiology,...

Hundreds of people with kidney cancer could be spared surgery with a DNA test that can identify whether tumours are likely to be highly aggressive or relatively harmless, scientists say. … While some kinds of kidney cancer grow and metastasise around the body with lethal speed, others do not appear...

An analyst at Goldman Sachs asked a troubling question...about gene therapy. “Is curing patients a sustainable business model?” In social media, reactions were quick and sharp. “Cold and immoral.” “Capitalism at its finest.” But the Goldman analyst has a point. It’s tricky to make a sustained profit from one-shot cures. For at least...

[Regenerative agriculture's] guiding principle is not just to farm sustainably — that implies mere maintenance of what might, after all, be a degraded status quo — but to farm in such a way as to improve the land. The movement emphasizes soil health and, specifically, the buildup of soil carbon. This happy...

The wild battle in Arkansas over dicamba, the controversial and drift-prone herbicide, just got even crazier. Local courts have told some farmers that they don't have to obey a summertime ban on dicamba spraying that the state's agricultural regulators issued last fall. The state has appealed. Meanwhile, farmers can't decide what...