How green are biofuels? Does corn-derived ethanol promote sustainability?

How green are biofuels? Does corn-derived ethanol promote sustainability?

Dan Charles |
Tyler Lark, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, grew up among farms, working on a neighbor’s dairy, vaguely aware ...
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Genomic surveillance: How studying malaria parasite genes helps develop more effective treatments

Alison Cranage |
In a classic evolutionary ‘arms race’ between pathogens and their human hosts, both sides develop arsenals of weapons. Our immune ...
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GLP Podcast & Video: Synthetic biology makes $10,000 perfume way cheaper; ‘Fashionable organic fantasies’ at the WEF; Sleeping pills cause dementia?

Cameron English, Kevin Folta |
A bottle of perfume used to cost more than $10,000. The price has dropped precipitously thanks to advancements in synthetic ...
Regulatory inconsistency and the precautionary principle: Why the European Court ruling limiting neonicotinoid pesticide use is misguided

Regulatory inconsistency and the precautionary principle: Why the European Court ruling limiting neonicotinoid pesticide use is misguided

Graham Brookes |
Important questions loom, now that European sugar beet and oilseed rape farmers face a potential ban on the use of ...
Viewpoint: The Guardian cites ‘shocking’ statistics from environmental lobby groups claiming increasing dangers from pesticide poisonings. Here’s why they are wrong, yet again

Viewpoint: The Guardian cites ‘shocking’ statistics from environmental lobby groups claiming increasing dangers from pesticide poisonings. Here’s why they are wrong, yet again

Cameron English |
The evidence is quite clear at this point. Properly used, pesticides do not pose a serious risk to human health ...
The evolution of COVID

Can we know for sure COVID’s origins? Why is Omicron so persistent? Knowing how evolution works provides guidance

Ricki Lewis |
The latest phrase borrowed from biology in COVID conversations is convergent evolution. It refers to pairs of unrelated species that ...
How cats got their stripes: The mystery of color patterns in mammals

How cats got their stripes: The mystery of color patterns in mammals

Ricki Lewis |
In 1902’s Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling famously explained how the leopard got his spots in what would today be deemed an ...
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Podcast and video: Fighting cystic fibrosis with viruses; Soaring seed prices; Europe’s byzantine plant-breeding rules persist

Kevin Folta, Michelle Horning |
Cystic fibrosis is a fatal condition that claims patients at an early age, so why does it persist? Soaring seed ...
How biotechnology over-regulation harms farmers, boosts food costs and fuels inflation

How biotechnology over-regulation harms farmers, boosts food costs and fuels inflation

Henry Miller |
Recent months have been hellish for many American farmers and consumers who buy the food they produce. Many farms have ...
With Kenya’s tentative embrace of growing GM products, Uganda faces a resurgent anti-GMO movement. Here’s the havoc it's causing and the activists behind it

With Kenya’s tentative embrace of growing GM products, Uganda faces a resurgent anti-GMO movement. Here’s the havoc it’s causing and the activists behind it

Peter Wamboga-Mugirya |
Agro-technologies, including CRISPR gene-editing to tweak crops to tolerate the challenges of climate change, including the control of plant bacterial ...
Using cost-benefit analysis: Crop biotechnology offers sizable yield and sustainability benefits when compared to non-GM farming

Using cost-benefit analysis: Crop biotechnology offers sizable yield and sustainability benefits when compared to non-GM farming

Stuart Smyth |
What are the costs of not adopting the best food producing technologies? The ability to quantify a choice that is ...
ancient genomes reveal ancient genetic variants

How humans adapt: Research on 1,000 ancient genomes reveals how genetic variants swept through populations

Humans may be just as vulnerable to environmental change as other animals, according to our new research analysing genetic data ...
Evoking Jeff Goldblum’s ‘The Fly’: Does growing human ‘brains-in-a-dish’ and creating chimeras cross a bioethical line?

Evoking Jeff Goldblum’s ‘The Fly’: Does growing human ‘brains-in-a-dish’ and creating chimeras cross a bioethical line?

Ricki Lewis |
Bits of human brain growing in a lab dish can reveal a great deal about how a disease begins and ...
Rethinking artificial sweeteners? Fake sugars may not cause cancer but they're not great for losing weight either

Rethinking artificial sweeteners? Fake sugars may not cause cancer but they’re not great for losing weight either

Barbara Pfeffer Billauer |
Let’s start by noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned against using artificial sweeteners for weight control. What? ...
GLP podcast and video: Universities host anti-science quack Vandana Shiva (again); Communist Cuba is pro-GMO; 1 year of 'bioengineered' food labels

GLP podcast and video: Universities host anti-science quack Vandana Shiva (again); Communist Cuba is pro-GMO; 1 year of ‘bioengineered’ food labels

Cameron English, Kevin Folta |
Dozens of researchers recently blasted two universities for inviting anti-vaccine, anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva to speak. Why do America's academic ...
Viewpoint: What role should industry have in refashioning Europe’s food system?

Viewpoint: What role should industry have in refashioning Europe’s food system?

David Zaruk |
I feel like Brussels is a puzzle where the pieces keep changing. The best way to start a puzzle is ...
Viewpoint: Global crop biotechnology revolution — 2022 saw dramatic advances in agricultural innovation

Viewpoint: Global crop biotechnology revolution — 2022 saw dramatic advances in agricultural innovation

Val Giddings |
Conquest, war, famine, and death: Looking back on 2022 as the COVID-19 plague roars into its fourth year, the Four Horsemen ...
Mysterious kidney disease epidemic flares up in Central America with climate change and chemicals suspected as drivers

Mysterious kidney disease epidemic flares up in Central America with climate change and chemicals suspected as drivers

Fletcher Reveley, Kitra Cahana |
José Lopez didn't want to die, but the alternative — having a scalpel plunged through his abdominal wall to install ...
homo sapiens ruled the earth

8 billion milestone: Here’s the story of how Homo sapiens came to rule the earth

Matthew Wills |
November 15 2022 marks a milestone for our species, as the global population hits 8 billion. Just 70 years ago, ...
Have any of Earth's creatures stopped evolving?

Have any of Earth’s creatures stopped evolving?

David Warmflash |
Some of the planet's more bizarre creatures have prompted some observers to suggest that evolution, on occasion, is stopped in ...
50+ scientists challenge Boston College, Florida International for hosting philosopher Vandana Shiva, disseminator of science disinformation on vaccines and crop biotechnology 

50+ scientists challenge Boston College, Florida International for hosting philosopher Vandana Shiva, disseminator of science disinformation on vaccines and crop biotechnology 

We are scholars and journalists of life sciences and social sciences from around the world who have published hundreds of ...
GLP Podcast: Smoking, drinking fueled by genetics? Women more empathetic than men; Enthusiasm for HIV vaccine wanes

GLP Podcast: Smoking, drinking fueled by genetics? Women more empathetic than men; Enthusiasm for HIV vaccine wanes

Cameron English, Kevin Folta |
If you drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, a growing body of evidence suggests that your genetics may have predisposed you ...
It’s not just humans that get COVID — other animals are susceptible too

It’s not just humans that get COVID — other animals are susceptible too

David Quammen |
Humans aren't the only mammals susceptible to infection by, or testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. There have been instances among quite ...
Viewpoint: Why leftist GMO rejectionists should take notice of Cuba's emergence as biomedicine and ag-biotech innovator

Viewpoint: Why leftist GMO rejectionists should take notice of Cuba’s emergence as biomedicine and ag-biotech innovator

Daniel Norero |
This past Christmas was not the best of times for Cubans. It was difficult to find food such as chicken, ...
Cystic fibrosis chronicle: Why has the often-deadly CF gene not passed out of the human genome? And what new treatments are being developed?

Cystic fibrosis chronicle: Why has the often-deadly CF gene not passed out of the human genome? And what new treatments are being developed?

Sam Moxon |
Is cystic fibrosis (CF) a death sentence? It can be for many if it is not treated aggressively and early ...
Viewpoint: Controversial EU ruling banning neonicotinoid pesticides that will devastate beet industry is not based on evidence-based science

Viewpoint: Controversial EU ruling banning neonicotinoid pesticides that will devastate beet industry is not based on evidence-based science

Gil Rivière Wekstein |
Last week the CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union) issued a ruling that is now threatening the beet ...
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Podcast: ‘Disinformation feedback loop’ — GLP’s Jon Entine and geneticist Kevin Folta expose web of anti-biotech groups — and their anti-vaxx, cult-promoting funding sources

Jon Entine, Kevin Folta |
The Genetic Literacy Project is a popular and respected science organization that promotes innovation and research using the cutting-edge tools ...