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Gene therapy for hemophilia delayed until 2022 after FDA rejects one-time treatment, shocking doctors and scientists
U.S. regulators rejected [Biomarin’s] potentially game-changing hemophilia A gene therapy over concerns it might not really be a one-and-done lifetime ...
Viewpoint: How prosperity and technology are defeating ‘environmental pessimism’
In 1980, the year that PERC was founded, I spent three months in the Himalayas working on a wildlife conservation ...
Viewpoint: Media focus on COVID-19 deaths ignores lasting impact of ‘calamitous pandemic’
The media regularly reports about deaths from COVID-19 as if that is the whole story. But it's not. COVID-19 doesn't ...
Podcast: Covid conspiracies; Cuba embraces GMOs; biotech vs. nature’s ‘mindless dangers’
A fearful public accepts conspiracy theories because they offer a sense of control in an uncontrollable situation, says a young ...
Viewpoint: How body building culture and fad diets mislead consumers about protein
In most supermarket aisles you’re likely to come across at least one product that features ‘protein’ somewhere in the title ...
Viewpoint: Is there a scientific basis to ban gene drive technology that can rid us of virus-carrying rodents and mosquitoes?
Gene drives may be invaluable tools to control the spread of parasites, invasive species, and disease carriers. But the technology ...
Viewpoint: ‘All natural’ pet food is no better for Fido, and it’s terrible for the environment
Gone are the days when a proud new pet owner could waltz into the grocery store and pick up a ...
Why SARS disappeared in 2003 while the coronavirus keeps on spreading
The unusual cases of pneumonia began to appear in midwinter, in China. The cause, researchers would later learn, was a ...
Podcast: Rebel Cell: Cancer, evolution and the science of life
Geneticist Dr Kat Arney brings you exclusive excerpts from her new book Rebel Cell, exploring where cancer came from, where ...
Viewpoint: Europe must abandon ‘fear of progress’ to defeat anti-science chemophobia
A site like European Scientist has one hope: that the 2020s will be the decade of renewal for European scientific ...
‘Vaccine nationalism’: Will the spoils go to the victors in the vaccine race?
Hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine candidates are currently being developed. The way emerging vaccines will be distributed to those who need them ...
Podcast: Arguing with vaccine skeptics works; Ban GMO labels? Agroecology keeps Africa poor
Contrary to popular belief, arguing with anti-science activists on social media helps combat the spread of misinformation. Organic food groups ...
Why do humans mate in private? Instinct or morality?
A debate has emerged as to why humans mate in private while every other animal – except the Arabian babbler ...
‘No change in insect population sizes’: Massive North American study challenges ‘insect apocalypse’ claims
In recent years, the notion of an insect apocalypse has become a hot topic in the conservation science community and has ...
Real life Jurassic Park? Recovered prehistoric DNA raises prospect of resurrecting species
Even before Jurassic Park became a staple of pop culture in the early 1990s, geneticists have been on the hunt ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate-tainted hummus? Environmental Working Group’s latest pesticide scare short on facts
In the wake of a highly publicized legal settlement between Bayer, owner of former glyphosate-maker Monsanto, and lawyers representing plaintiffs ...
COVID-19 conspiracy theories give people the feeling of being in control
A few weeks ago, I took an uncomfortable trip down the rabbit hole of Covid-19 conspiracy theory videos. As a newly ...
Viewpoint: While ‘elitist academics’ praise local food ‘industrial farming’ feeds us during a pandemic
With the world COVID-19 pandemic in its sixth month, food activists are back to trumpeting locally grown, and even home ...
‘Immunological dark matter’: Is this why some people have a pre-existing immunity to COVID-19?
More than half a million people have died from COVID-19 globally. It is a major tragedy, but perhaps not on the ...
Viewpoint: Battling deadly disease with gene drives is worth the limited risk
The fate of society rests in part on how humans navigate their complicated relationship with insects – trying to save ...
Video: Death by COVID: The projected grim toll in historical context
The latest statistics, as of July 10, show COVID-19-related deaths in U.S. are just under 1,000 per day nationally, which is ...
In effort to block Philippines’ GMO Golden Rice, activists falsely link nutrition-enhanced staple to COVID
Anti-biotech groups in the Philippines are trying to link the COVID-19 pandemic to Golden Rice as part of a week-long ...
‘Tantalizing solutions’: How we are developing the next generation of cancer drugs
Cancer treatments have always been linked to a specific part of the body — these drugs for breast cancer, and ...
Podcast: Global population crash; Pesticide bans backfire; beef producing CRISPR male cows
CRISPR could enable farmers to produce more beef from fewer cattle, boosting farm sustainability. Lawsuits designed to get pesticides and ...
Viewpoint: How to constructively engage on social media with those who post anti-GMO and anti-vax conspiracies
The other day, a tantalizing question appeared in my Twitter feed: “If you were writing a book about 2020, what ...
Vaccine ‘durability’: COVID-19 immunizations coming soon but will they last?
As the days unfold with a seeming sameness in this odd summer of the pandemic, news of vaccine clinical trials ...
Podcast: How 1970s fat-free fad launched organic, non-GMO and other ‘absurd’ labeling schemes
Go walk the aisles of your local grocery store and see how many products are being marketed for what they ...