Featured in Newsletter
‘New story unfolding’: Ancient finger bones found in Asia force a rethinking of human migration
Politics, geography, and tradition have long focused archaeological attention on the evolution of Homo sapiens in Europe and Africa. Now, ...
Misleading glyphosate-cancer study Part 2: ‘Symptom of a widespread problem’—Concerns about ideological activism in science research and communications
For the better part of five years, a coalition of environmental groups and tort lawyers (aided by the mainstream press) ...
Can we have an open debate about IQ, genes, and group differences? Reassessing the legacy of James Flynn
I once spoke to a human geneticist who declared that the notion of intelligence was quite meaningless, so I tried ...
The glyphosate debacle: How a misleading study about the alleged risks of the weedkiller Roundup and gullible reporters helped fuel a cancer scare
As biotech giant Bayer prepares to spend $10 billion settling thousands of lawsuits alleging its weedkiller Roundup (and its active ...
Dawn beckons as COVID vaccines roll out, but the next few months promise to be the darkest yet, and echoes of the AIDS era
One strange aspect of plagues is that they often finish strong. I learned this the hard way last time around ...
What the heck are ‘anti-nutrients’? Despite the scary-sounding name, they may have important health benefits
Maybe you’re trying to eat healthier these days, aiming to get enough of the good stuff and limit the less-good ...
Viewpoint on sex and gender: Has the New England Journal abandoned science for woke political correctness?
Two years ago, “Titania McGrath,” whose satirical Twitter account regularly skewers the ideological excesses of social-justice culture, suggested that “we should remove biological ...
Viewpoint: Pesticides can be harmful—but they’re also ‘vital to human health and global food security’
As much as pesticides are a threat to certain ecosystems, they’re also responsible for providing the planet with food in ...
Gene editing could produce more flavorful decaf coffee — and combat public’s anti-GMO sentiment
Coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks, but that cup can come with a price of jitters or ...
Podcast: Brushing your teeth keeps you young? Ageing research uncovers new clues in the quest to live a longer, healthier life
Dr Kat Arney takes a look at the biological changes that underpin ageing, and how we can use this knowledge ...
The faux argument of natural vs synthetic
There are many confrontations on the battlefield of cyberspace. Vaccine proponents versus anti-vaxxers. Creationists versus evolutionary biologists. Anti-fluoride activists versus ...
Podcast: FDA’s double standard? Geneticist Alison Van Eenennaam examines why agency defends GE crops but overregulates GE animals
After more than 30 years of development and regulatory review, AquaBounty's fast-growing, GM salmon is poised to hit US grocery ...
Are Trump and Biden showing early signs of dementia? It’s time to look beyond arm-chair psychiatry and politics to science
In 2020, while the United States was locked in one of the most polarizing presidential elections and post-election period in ...
Uncertain future: Will Europe’s Green Deal encourage or cripple crop gene-editing innovation?
The EU Green Deal and its Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity Strategies stipulate ambitious policy objectives that will fundamentally impact agricultural businesses ...
When the faster-spreading and more virulent COVID-19 mutant came to my home town, it shook up everyone. Here’s an explainer of what it foreshadows
When a new variant of the COVID-19 virus appeared in the UK as 2020 drew to a close, I didn’t ...
With fertile land and water growing scarce, high-yield wheat and barley could help save millions from hunger
By the time I am 60 years old in 2050, our global population will have increased to 9.7 billion people. That’s ...
The truth about the COVID vaccines: Everything you need to know about the fastest vaccines ever developed
The COVID-19 vaccine was developed faster than any other vaccine in history, which has caused some concern to those that ...
Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch: The chemists who revolutionized fertilizer production and ‘changed the world for the better’
Without the efforts of Haber and Bosch, the world’s population would be much smaller ...
Viewpoint: Does organic food taste better? No, but deceptive marketing can make you think so
I have already illustrated that organic food is no safer or healthier as explained here and here, but many consumers have an ...
Viewpoint: The unreported dark side of James Watson’s DNA structure discovery
For the past several years, I have taught a seminar called The Literature of Science to a dozen or so honors ...
Inherited blindness has a new cure, thanks to CRISPR
In recent months, even as our attention has been focused on the coronavirus outbreak, there have been a slew of ...
Podcast: Glyphosate boosts cancer risk 41%? How a questionable claim from a flawed study went viral
As a rule, scientific research is relegated to obscure technical journals and goes unnoticed by most people. Every few months, ...
A dangerous stage in the evolution of the novel coronavirus is upon us with the discovery of “escape mutations”. Artificial intelligence may be our best response
Real life with COVID-19 is now scarier than anything a sci-fi writer could envision. So-called “escape mutations” that can turn ...
Viewpoint: Environmental groups attack latest crop gene-editing innovations misusing scientifically outdated 20-year-old anti-GMO arguments
“Gene stacking”—the process of modifying several genes or traits instead of just one—has been around many years. “Golden Rice,” engineered ...
Genetically engineered, blight-resistant potato could help East Africa beat hunger and move towards food self-sufficiency
Imagine being a potato farmer in Ethiopia, Kenya or Nigeria. On a small piece of land, which you depend on ...
Gattaca or life-saving? Can we—should we—use CRISPR to edit human embryos, sperm or eggs to cure diseases?
The startling announcement by He Jiankui [two years] ago that he had created the first genetically modified human beings unleashed a ...
Podcast: How do mRNA vaccines work and why were they developed so fast?
Geneticist Dr Kat Arney takes a look at the discovery of messenger RNA (mRNA) and finds out how mRNA vaccines ...
