Featured in Weekly Newsletter
Novels ‘All About Evie’ and ‘The Family Upstairs’ illustrate how DNA tests can reveal ‘dark secrets’, from rape to unknown siblings
It was inevitable that fiction writers would begin weaving unexpected DNA test results into their narratives ...
Viewpoint: After years of bashing agriculture and GMOs, Chipotle reverses course with ‘Cultivate the Future of Farming’ campaign
Given Chipotle's past cozy relationship with organic food marketers, this seems more like a marketing stunt ...
Podcast: Why some of the most iconic images and stories depicting evolution are wrong
Kat Arney tackles the myths and misconceptions around two of the most iconic images in evolutionary biology: the 'March of ...
Do GMO foods or glyphosate cause gluten allergies?
Anti-GMO campaigners continue to link GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate to gluten allergies--even though there is no commercialized genetically engineered ...
Teaching evolution to college students with creationist views requires innovative approaches
University instructors employ a variety of methods when teaching evolution in classes in which large numbers of students reject the ...
Can synthetic biology help deliver an AI brain as smart as the real thing?
To create artificial general intelligence, we need to study the brain ...
Viewpoint: At least 200,000 people die every year GMO Golden Rice is kept off the market
This is not a story of incompetence and ignorance, but of an antediluvian hostility to science and technology ...
Will 2020 see the debut of promising gene therapy for hemophilia A? It’s up to the FDA.
Hemophilia A gene therapy has been twenty years in the making ...
Beyond burgers: Why it’s so difficult to create ‘animal free’ steaks, bacon and chicken cutlets
A look at the food revolution of today, as well as Cultured Meat 2.0 ...
Fighting climate change by reprogramming yeast, bacteria to feast on carbon dioxide
An organism easily adapted to different environments and ready to consume any compound would be a valuable tool ...
GMOs, biosensors and biopreservation: Tools that can fight global hunger by reducing food spoilage
We're feeding an ever-increasing number of people. Getting the rest of the way by 2030 will require every innovation we ...
2019 offered ‘eclectic’ mix of potentially breakthrough treatments for genetic diseases, from cystic fibrosis to sickle cell
2019 was a very good year for new treatments of genetic diseases ...
DNA tests sometimes uncover buried family secrets. We’re exploring how to help everyone cope
Are people prepared for surprises? ...
Viewpoint: Confused about GMOs and pesticides? Here’s a science-based handbook for combating anti-biotech fallacies
The risk posed by junk science meant to skew our perception of food safety and biotechnology cannot be overstated ...
CRISPR gene editing’s ‘prime’ upgrade could snip out 89% of genetic diseases
The new editing technique has the capability to introduce specified changes to the DNA: mutations, deletions, and insertions of new ...
Philippines is first! Long-delayed Vitamin A-enhanced Golden Rice greenlighted, bucking activist opposition
The fortified food addresses vitamin A deficiency, which kills an estimated 670,000 children each year ...
Golden Rice inventors: ‘Why our life-saving GMO crop is still not getting to the impoverished people who need it’
Until science-based policy overrules a smear campaign against Golden Rice, VAD-induced death and blindness will continue ...
Podcast: Vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit explains the ‘dos and dont’s’ of battling scientific misinformation
Paul Offit has forged a second career as an influential spokesman for scientific thinking ...
What’s missing from claims that neonicotinoids are killing bees, birds and fish?
Criticism of pesticides is often undeserved -- and sometimes absolutely bizarre ...
‘CRISPR this, CRISPR that’: Is our fascination with the popular gene-editing tool distracting us from the potential of gene-silencing RNAi technology?
I hope the public fascination with CRISPR can also embrace the other biotechnologies providing new therapeutic options ...
‘No one wanted to touch it’: Why a Lyme disease vaccine has been so elusive
The first human Lyme vaccine was pulled off the market nearly twenty years ago. A new effort faces lingering suspicions ...
Viewpoint: How the glyphosate-cancer controversy became a moral crusade—and a threat to scientific progress
Sometimes the clear weight of evidence coupled with a dose of common sense is enough to show what’s right ...
Viewpoint: Science denialism threatens the potential of gene-edited crops
Undermining science that does not fit into one's intellectual or political framework is dangerous ...
Should parents be allowed to choose a child’s sexual orientation through gene editing?
Where do our sexual preferences come from? Most of us don’t stop to ponder, simply because there’s no need to ...
‘Genome streamlining’: How species ditch genes no longer needed for survival
Can a genome reach maximum efficiency? ...
Viewpoint: Wild bees on the decline? Lack of evidence challenges popular environmentalist narrative
'We can’t be simultaneously in the midst of a pollinator crisis threatening our ability to grow food and see continually ...
Retinitis pigmentosa cure breakthrough? Next generation of artificial lenses being developed with flexible silicon-like chips to combat genetic blindness
Organic semiconductors can link up with brain cells to send and receive signals. They may find a use in sight-restoring ...
