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.
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Fighting malaria: West African village could be world’s first release of gene-drive mosquito — if residents allow it
This small village of [Bana] in West Africa might seem the least likely place for an experiment at the frontier ...
Strategy shift: Stem cell research uses donor cells to cut tumor risks
Scientists can create [induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells] from any cell in the body. [But while they]...can be “reprogrammed” to ...
Is your sperm being zapped by chemicals in the environment?
Nick Kristof is an accomplished reporter...[but] when he ventures into issues relating to environmental exposures and their putative health effects, ...
Family trees may hold key to unlocking mystery of autism, Alzheimer’s risk
The standard approach for unearthing genetic variants linked to a particular condition is a genome-wide association study (GWAS). For this ...
Tame the hype: Is medical genetics plagued by unfilled promises?
Recently, I read an article promising that medical genetics will...make medicine predictive and personalized through detailed knowledge of the patient’s ...
Understanding innovation’s ‘enemies’: Calestous Juma explores how new technologies can overcome social opposition
[Editor's Note: The following is a review of the book, "Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies" by Harvard ...
Heart disease, diabetes linked to 90 genes active in fat cells
A sweeping international effort is connecting the dots between genes in our fat cells and our risk for obesity and ...
Conservatives who trust science more likely to view GMOs as safe than liberal counterparts, survey finds
[Editor's note: Dan Kahan is a professor of psychology at Yale Law School.] [I]n 2010, the General Social Survey (GSS) asked ...
French men getting less sexy? As sperm counts slide, activists point to pesticides, scientists to vegetables
Studies have found vegetarians have lower sperm count and that French men in the 1980s had higher sperm counts than ...
Challenging Danny Hakim’s New York Times claim that Monsanto conspired to cover up glyphosate dangers
[Editor's note: Alex Berezow is a microbiologist and a senior fellow of biomedical science at the American Council on Science ...
Glyphosate found ‘not carcinogenic’: Key European safety agency joins consensus view on herbicide’s safety
A key European safety agency says glyphosate does not cause cancer, paving the way for the herbicide to regain long-term ...
With pesticide resistance rising, crop scientists look to CRISPR, bacteria for solutions
Resistance to conventional pesticides — among insects, weeds or microbial pathogens — is common on farms worldwide. CropLife International, an ...
3 women blinded after receiving stem cell therapy for macular degeneration
Three women suffered severe, permanent eye damage after stem cells were injected into their eyes, in an unproven treatment at ...
Losing too many brain cells? Even adults can make more, study says
Many people think that their adult brain is not capable of generating new cells...[However,] the reality is much more complex ...
1 in 5 women with breast cancer could be helped by drugs targeting BRCA genes
Up to a fifth of women with breast cancer may benefit from drugs that are currently reserved for less common ...
Criminal intent: Brain scans could show whether someone meant to do bad
What if lawyers could prove that a person knowingly committed a crime by looking at scans of his or her ...
Social anxiety, phobia may stem from gene linked to suppressing emotions
People with social anxiety avoid situations in which they are exposed to judgment by others. Those affected also lead a ...
Fact or fiction: Testosterone supplements offer youthful boost for aging men
Lots of men are taking testosterone supplements, some of them for good reasons and some for not-so-good reasons. There are ...
Tanzania’s biosafety regulations force researchers to burn harvest from GMO corn field trial despite food shortages
In keeping with strict biosafety regulations, all the GM maize material is burned once the harvest data is collected. The ...
Australian election results could spell bad news for GMO farmers
Labor's comprehensive victory at the [March 2017] WA [Western Australia] election raises questions about the future status of plant biotechnology ...
EPA/Monsanto collusion alleged in lawsuit challenging safety of Roundup herbicide
[Editor's note: Read the GLP's coverage of glyphosate's cancer risk here and here. Read the American Council on Science and Health's ...
Republican bill could force workers to involuntarily disclose sensitive DNA data to employers
It’s hard to imagine a more sensitive type of personal information than your own genetic blueprints...[T]he four-base code can reveal ...
Life after death? Brain activity sometimes mimics ‘deep sleep’
When the heart stops, the body is declared dead, but this isn't always absolute...New research has now added another piece to the ...
No turning back: Why discussions on gene editing must reach the American public
[F]or the first time, scientists in China announced they had successfully edited the genes of fertilized human embryos, and fully ...
Corn genetically engineered to neutralize toxic mold would be boon for health of poor women in Africa
It’s a silent killer lurking in common foods. A carcinogenic toxin made by [mold] kills thousands around the world and ...
Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen pesticide-in-foods list confuses risk and hazard
It's that time of the year when the Environmental Working Group produces its "Dirty Dozen List" - foods they believe ...
Toxin, glyphosate, carcinogen: Story behind 3 most misused words in conventional vs. organic farming debate
[Editor's note: Marthélize Tredoux is a former scientist and co-owner and editor at Incogvino, a website that covers wine. By day, ...
