Biotechnology
Wheat gene discovery could fend off deadly stem rust pathogen threatening global food security
University of California, Davis, researchers have identified a gene that enables resistance to a new devastating strain of stem rust, ...
Genetic Literacy Project’s Top 6 Stories for the Week – Nov. 20, 2017
Viewpoint: From Non-GMO to gluten-free, ‘fake transparency’ in food labeling offers little but higher prices | Brandon McFadden Fighting antibiotic ‘superbugs’—DNA ...
Talking Biotech: Soil-worm resistant GMO crops in Africa hindered by politics, public fears
IITA scientists: GMOs could help fend off nematode crop pests in Africa, but educating policymakers and public about the benefits ...
How the tomato lost its flavor––and the way biotech could bring it back
Supermarket tomatoes have a sorry reputation for looking great but tasting like cardboard. Short of growing only heirloom tomatoes, the ...
South Australia close to passing bill to extend GMO crop ban to 2025
South Australia is set to extend its controversial ban on the growing of genetically-modified crops until 2025 after a bill ...
Claims that glyphosate herbicide causes chronic diseases ‘not supported by scientific evidence’
[Editor's note: Robin Mesnage was a coauthor of the retracted study led by anti-GMO activist scientist Gilles-Eric Séralini (GLP profile here) ...
CRISPR could revolutionize livestock breeding—if people will eat gene-edited animals
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), the last site-specific endonuclease to be developed, is an RNA- guided endonuclease, easy ...
Are ‘gene drive’ trials too risky for field studies?
In 2013, scientists discovered a new way to precisely edit genes — technology called Crispr... One of the more intriguing ...
Complex EU system leads to undemocratic GMO approval process
[Editor's note: Monika Mühlböck is a professor at the Department of Economic Sociology at the University of Vienna. Jale Tosun is ...
Nanotechnology might help farmers fight climate change, pests and disease–and boost yields
Researchers are exploring the impact of using nanoscale nutrients––including copper––on eggplants and other crops. While early results have shown substantial ...
Viewpoint: Blame activist social media for Europe’s anti-science crusade against glyphosate
[Editor's note: Richard Hackett is an Agronomist based in North County Dublin, Ireland.] [A]ccess to abundant food has led to complacency ...
Biopesticides: Creating a mosquito-fighting bacteria wasn’t easy—or fast
[A]fter decades of international scientific effort, a new mosquito biopesticide (a pesticide that uses natural bacteria) has been approved. And it only took a year and ...
What’s a ‘GMO’ food?
[W]hat exactly is a GMO? The initialism stands for "genetically modified organism," but it's a term lacking scientific precision. Moreover, ...
Genes associated with improved photosynthesis could double crop yields, suck more CO2 out of atmosphere
Scientists from Wageningen University & Research have found natural genetic variation for photosynthesis in plants and are unravelling it to ...
Monsanto, farmers groups sue California claiming glyphosate cancer warning would be ‘false speech’
Monsanto Co and U.S. farm groups sued California on Wednesday [Nov. 15] to stop the state from requiring cancer warnings ...
Disease-resistant GMO bananas could save $12 billion Cavendish global industry
A billion dollar banana industry at risk of a deadly disease could be saved by a scientific breakthrough from a ...
Nigeria rejects $10 million worth of unapproved GMO corn imported from Argentina
Nigeria’s National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) says it has, in conjunction with the Customs Service, ordered that the genetically modified ...
A gene-editing first: Scientists try to edit a living human’s DNA
Scientists for the first time have tried editing a gene inside the body in a bold attempt to permanently change ...
Crop armor: Genetic modification to protect plants from drought, climate change
An army of scientists is hard at work to understand how plants sense, defend and adapt to harsh environments. ...
CRISPR wine and beer? Rose, honey flavor-producing yeast gene identified
When you taste a wine or beer that calls up the flavor of rose or honey think phenylethyl acetate; it’s ...
Viewpoint: From Non-GMO to gluten-free, ‘fake transparency’ in food labeling offers little but higher prices
At what point does food labeling become less about transparency and more about marketing strategy? A new federal law mandating ...
Video: Geneticist Nina Fedoroff on what to do when scientists and citizens disagree about GMOs
At the 2017 D.W. Brooks Lecture and Award held on Nov. 7 in the Georgia Center’s Mahler Auditorium, molecular biologist ...
GMO stigma: The challenge of growing virus-resistant papaya in Hawaii
[Michael] Kamiya is a strong supporter of agricultural technology, which he credits for saving his family’s farm. He has childhood ...
Fighting antibiotic ‘superbugs’—DNA sequencing helps in the battle
The successful effort to contain an outbreak of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) at a UK hospital demonstrates the ...
DNA profiles of 500,000 people put online by UK Biobank in massive research effort
U.K. Biobank [recruited] 500,000 volunteers for a massive study on the origins of disease. In addition to collecting blood and urine, ...
Survey showing health benefits from non-GMO diet? ‘The misinformation is staggering’
It was the stuff of anti-GMO activists' dreams: A “peer-reviewed” paper, published in a scientific-looking journal with an impressive title, detailing ...
Viewpoint: There’s no reason to panic over human germline editing
[Editor's note: Hank Greely is a professor of law and genetics at Stanford University.] Controversy has raged about editing human ...
