Featured in Weekly Newsletter
Viewpoint: As Africa faces climate change and farming disruptions, biotechnology-driven innovation offers hope. Why is it not more widely adopted?
On June 9th 2022, persistent rainfall swept through Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and smallest state. The downpour led to loss ...
Queen Elizabeth II officially died at 96 of ‘old age’. What does that mean?
Queen Elizabeth’s newly released death certificate contains just two curious words under her cause of death – old age ...
Do we unfairly label ‘invasive species’? Conservationists debate whether their positive qualities suggest a rethink
A little over a decade ago, Jason Gleditsch was removing Asian honeysuckle when he noticed the birds. Robins and gray ...
Viewpoint: Farmer protests in Europe challenges misguided restrictions on biotechnology innovation
Over the summer, farmers in the Netherlands vehemently protested against the government's new environmental rules. Over multiple weeks, thousands of ...
Did ancient humans experience depression or anxiety?
Operationalizing a perspective that discusses generalized anxiety and other mental health disorders without interpreting history through the lens of our ...
Naturally saffron-flavored rice? Here’s how scientists are using genetically modified tobacco and lemon to recreate the world’s most expensive spice
Biotechnology mass-produces valuable molecules from nature, from drugs to textiles to a jellyfish protein that lights up most anything a ...
‘Lessons in Chemistry’: New Apple TV series based on best-selling book has opportunity to skewer sexism while challenging the ‘nerd stereotype’
I loved Lessons in Chemistry, the hit novel by Bonnie Garmus, and I’m thrilled that Apple TV+ picked it up ...
Lab leak theory backlash: Republicans back controversial COVID origins explanation, widening gap on previously bipartisan issue
In March 2021, three members of Congress sent a long letter to the director of the National Institutes of Health, the ...
Teenage brains are a cauldron of change: Here’s what happens on the inside and how it affects our looks and behavior
A lot happens when you reach puberty. Your voice may change and you will experience hair growth on parts of ...
Most Americans don’t follow healthy food guidelines, promoting an FDA call to update them. Maybe they should rethink their strategy altogether
American eating patterns don’t match the FDA dietary guidelines for a healthy lifestyle. A recent survey revealed that 75% of people don’t eat ...
Viewpoint: Climate-conscious diet? Tradeoffs are key as every way of eating has an environmental impact
For instance, I enjoy eating meat, and I also care about the environment. Are the two mutually exclusive? Can only ...
Podcast: BMI useless? Lab-grown meat a ‘pipe dream;’ Did early humans eat each other?
Using body mass index (BMI) to assess a patient's health may yield misleading results and undermine public trust in medicine, ...
Nature, nurture and old age: How much is the human lifespan driven by our genes?
The research used our old friend, the UK Biobank, a repository of genetic information on a large number of Brits, ...
Taking as many as 209 million cars off the road: How genetically modified (GM) crops have reduced global agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions
Crop biotechnology has significantly reduced agriculture’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by helping farmers adopt more sustainable practices such as reduced ...
Are Americans too complacent about a winter surge of COVID infections — and deaths?
To the old saying about the inevitability of death and taxes, we should add another: another health crisis linked to ...
Genetically modified crops and sustainability: 25 years since their widespread introduction, yields are higher and the environmental footprint is smaller
Genetically modified (GM) crops have increased global food, feed and fiber production by nearly 1 billion tonnes (1 tonne equals ...
Viewpoint: Britain faces decision of whether to break from Europe’s innovation-killing regulations on CRISPR new plant and animal breeding
MPs and Lords are preparing to debate the remaining stages of the Precision Breeding Bill at Westminster. While a handful ...
‘U-shaped happiness curve’: Do people really get more content with life as they age?
On average, happiness declines as we approach middle age, bottoming out in our 40s but then picking back up as ...
‘The Day I Die’: One man’s struggle with Lou Gehrig’s disease and physician-assisted suicide
[An excerpt] from The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America by Anita Hannig ...
Podcast: NYT attacks another scientist; How we got ‘GMO’ insulin; Why is gene therapy so costly?
The New York Times last week alleged that a high-profile scientist is in cahoots with the meat industry. Is there ...
British Member of Parliament urges UK to embrace sustainable biotechnologies, ignore Europe’s ideological rejection of genetic modification
Agriculture is possibly unique as a sector of the economy in its relationship with climate change. As an industry it ...
Is human intelligence an evolutionary dead end?
The German Philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was, by all accounts, a miserable human being. He famously sought meaning through suffering, ...
Viewpoint: 10 claims by anti-GMO African campaigners on why crop biotechnology advances should be rejected – and why they are wrong
Over 20 years, Africa’s foray into genetic modification (GM) crop development has faced stiff resistance from anti-GMO lobby groups that ...
51 experts weigh in on this survey on the nutritional health of the United States
Climate change was ranked the biggest threat to sustainability of food production in the U.S., with 51% of researchers ranking ...
‘Dead first’: Why American men are men more likely than Canadians, Australians and Brits to die prematurely
Whether it’s stubbornness, an aversion to appearing weak or vulnerable, or other reasons, men go to the doctor far less ...
Viewpoint: ‘Science doesn’t work through ad hominem attacks’ — UC Davis’ Alison Van Eenennaam challenges NY Times’ unsupported exposé of fellow scientist researching ways to reduce carbon footprint of cattle industry
Look I get it. The New York Times (NYT) does not like GMOs, industrial agriculture, factory farming or meat consumption ...
Do you have frequent nightmares? They could foreshadow future dementia
We spend a third of our lives asleep. And a quarter of our time asleep is spent dreaming. So, for ...
