Health & Medicine
Through the study and use of genetics, we can identify measures that could lead to the improvement of human health and wellness. These methods and procedures aim to prevent years of chronic disease and thousands of dollars in health care costs, and provide families and communities with knowledge of how to live healthier.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Indian scientist: For some crops, genetic engineering ‘only option’ to improve food security
[Editor's note: Rajeev Varshney is Research Program Director for Genetic Gains, at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics ...
Gene therapy challenge: Overcoming shortage of key and expensive viruses
Eager to speed development of revolutionary treatments, the Food and Drug Administration recently announced that it would expedite approval of ...
Challenging Mendel: Does the female egg woo sperm with specific genes?
[Researcher Jon Nadeau’s] hypothesis—that the egg could woo sperm with specific genes and vice versa—is part of a growing realization ...
Non-antibiotic sepsis-fighting drug could save millions of lives
The state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) in southeast India is perhaps not the first place you’d expect to find a ...
French President Macron advocates glyphosate herbicide ban within 3 years
The European Union voted on Monday [Nov. 27] to extend its authorization for the world’s best-selling herbicide for an abbreviated ...
EU renews glyphosate herbicide license for 5 years, ending ‘heated debate’
EU countries approved on Monday [Nov. 27] the use of weed-killer glyphosate for the next five years after a heated ...
Does air pollution reach the womb, eventually leading to heart disease and shorter lives?
New research gives expectant mothers reason to be more cautious with air pollution, which can cause damage to the critical ...
How gene therapy could help fight methamphetamine addiction
Gene therapy, which modifies a person’s DNA, has long been thought of as a way to treat genetic diseases—and, more recently, ...
Stressed out? It could alter your sperm
Sperm from stressed-out dads can carry that stress from one generation to another. “But one question that really hasn’t been ...
How choosing genetically similar partners shapes our genomes
Chances are, you’re going to marry someone a lot like you. Similar intelligence, similar height, similar body weight. A new ...
Exploring national security risks related to gene editing
Technology is advancing exponentially and the exciting field of genome editing is no exception. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ...
Nano-mapping DNA mutations with CRISPR could transform disease treatment
A team of scientists led by Virginia Commonwealth University physicist Jason Reed, Ph.D., have developed new nanomapping technology that could ...
Dolly the sheep revisited: Early health fears about clones ‘greatly exaggerated’
[L]ast year, Kevin Sinclair, a developmental biologist at the University of Nottingham, published a paper about several clones including Dolly’s four “sisters,” who ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO movement perpetuates sexism, food insecurity
An acronym that conjures specters like pesticides, cancer, obesity, the transformation of life forms into intellectual property, and corporate control ...
Women may have something to gain from male infertility
The plot of P.D.James’s dystopian novel The Children Of Men revolves around a provocative thought experiment: what would happen if ...
Viewpoint: GMO crops are future of African farming—if anti-biotech activists get out of the way
[I]nfluenced by European environmentalists, most African countries forbid the growing of genetically modified crops. This is a pity, because unless ...
Evidence ancient humans not ‘violent apes’ but distinctly compassionate
[Editor's note: Penny Spikins is an archaeologist who specializes in early prehistory and human origins.] Yes, there is evidence of interpersonal violence ...
Viewpoint: Cost of gene therapy could put experimental treatments out of reach for most
Drugs that modify human genes have the potential to cure intractable diseases with just one treatment. Few could disagree that's ...
Canadian researchers can’t use CRISPR in human embryo research
In the United States, using genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPR to make genetic alterations that can be passed on ...
FDA details risk-based cellular therapy and regenerative medicine guidelines
The FDA has issued two final guidances and two draft guidances, all designed to articulate the agency’s approach to developing ...
Anti-biotechnology fake news: ‘Natural News’ claims RNAi used to ‘eliminate black people’
Anti-GMO campaigners are promoting a new conspiracy theory conflating the pioneering genetics technology of RNAi with anti-vaxxer myths and a ...
Food, vaccines and medicine: How plant scientists are changing the world
[Editor's note: Erica Hawkins is a PhD student at the John Innes Centre and the University of East Anglia studying medicinal plant ...
Argentina authorizes new herbicide-resistant GMO soybean seeds
Argentina authorized on Friday [Nov. 24] the use of genetically modified soybean seeds resistant to herbicides other than glyphosate, as ...
French scientist calls for inquiry into IARC’s ‘misbehavior’ on glyphosate cancer study
Following revelations that IARC withheld data showing the herbicide glyphosate does not cause cancer, French molecular geneticist Marcel Kuntz calls ...
France to vote against 5-year EU renewal of glyphosate herbicide
France will vote against a five-year extension of the license for weed-killer glyphosate that the European Commission will propose on ...
Despite the hype, there was no ‘successful’ human head transplant
In February 2015, Sergio Canavero appeared in this very publication claiming a live human head will be successfully transplanted onto ...
Fighting Zika: Gene edited, 3-eyed flightless mosquitoes
[I]n an effort to demonstrate how gene editing could be used to eradicate the mosquito species Aedes aegypti —a major carrier of ...
