Self-destructing genes reveal novel approach to therapy

Bioengineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created a novel gene-delivery system that shuttles a gene into a ...

Your genes: Part dad, part mom and a dollop of mother’s bacteria

Krystnell Storr |
A good mom always knows to pack a little something extra — even when it comes to genetic material. According ...

Climate change will make infectious disease outbreaks more common

Zoë Schlanger |
As the catastrophic Ebola outbreak showed the world recently, the modern age of global air travel has made it far ...
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Is Nature safer, healthier in medicine and food? Deadly take on controversial topic

David Warmflash |
It's called the "naturalist fallacy". Naturalist beliefs that seeds or foods developed in part by scientists, often working in laboratories, ...

Does it contain GMOs or protect rainforests? App scans food, provides label alternative

Randy Shore |
A new smartphone app may help concerned consumers bring social and environmental justice to the grocery store by supplying information ...

What did the real paleo diet look like?

Ken Sayers |
Reconstructions of human evolution are prone to simple, overly-tidy scenarios. Our ancestors, for example, stood on two legs to look ...

NYC subways a germafobes worst nightmare? Study authors denouce ‘fear-based’ reporting

Christopher Mason |
Recently, our paper published in Cell Systems surveyed DNA of the entire NYC subway system.  Specifically, we had fragments of DNA that matched a myriad of ...

Stem cells show promising results in treating malaria

Lisa Anderson |
Human stem cells engineered to produce renewable sources of mature, liver-like cells can be grown and infected with malaria to ...
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Bob Simon’s final 60 Minutes: Grinding progress of ZMAPP Ebola GMO drug

Rebecca Randall |
The final story of Bob Simon's brilliant journalism career put him in the middle of a GMO controversy--the use of ...
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Confession of liberal, organic food consumer-scientist: ‘I support GMOs’

Curtis Hannah |
I love organic food. My “significant other” cooks and eats only organic and I love her food. My confession: I ...
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Mystery of obesity: Failed ‘rectal transplant’ raises questions about role of gut microbes

Tabitha M. Powledge |
A recent fecal transplant case leading to serious weight gain has resulted in a rule against overweight fecal donors. Did ...
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Food Babe plays race, sexist shill cards from “Deck of Deflection”

Kavin Senapathy |
Vani Hari's new book attacking chemicals and GMOs in food is a roaring sales success. But that hasn't stopped critics ...

Kit expands genetic screening options for Ashkenazi Jewish couples

Nancy Sokoler Steiner |
When a Jewish couple is planning their wedding or anticipating starting a family, they probably aren’t thinking much about rare ...

20-year saga with brain disease highlights questions about precision medicine plan

Abigail Zuger |
Which chapter came first? Was it the genetic predilection for alcohol that created [Barbar's] lifestyle (pure chaos) and environment (streets, shelters, hotels)? ...
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‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ rewritten for horny biology nerds

Ricki Lewis |
Ricki Lewis, a genetic counselor and biology textbook author, has her own unique take on the salacious bestselling book and now ...

For cancer, timing and order of mutations determine outcome

Christine Gorman |
For the first time, researchers have proved that the order in which cancer genes mutate affects the type of malignancy ...
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How Food Babe mobilized an army against GMOs and chemicals

James Hamblin |
Over the past three years, Vani Hari has rapidly become one of the most popular voices on nutrition in mainstream ...
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Mother Jones’s missed opportunity to reverse GMO safety consensus denialism

A year ago, Mother Jones published a balanced report on crop biotechnology, embracing the global consensus that GMOs are safe--a ...

Trouble settling down? Sexual promiscuity may be hardwired in genes

Douglas Perry |
Next time your significant other catches you in bed with someone else, try this defense: "Don't take it personally, babe ...

Screening for rare disorder saves couple from second childbirth nightmare

Katy Walsh |
A Colorado couple has two healthy children thanks to sophisticated genetic screening. They were able to choose disease-free embryos over ...
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Designer children? Will movement for 3-parent babies change how we view parenthood?

Lydia Ramsey |
Last week members of the British House of Commons passed a bill legalizing mitochondrial DNA transfers--a process that combines three ...

Should human genetic modification always be considered taboo?

Michael Le Page |
Want to see what a genetically modified human looks like? Just glance in the mirror. You are the result of ...

Is century-old remedy the solution to antibiotic resistance?

Azeen Ghorayshi |
Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, scientists have amassed a medical arsenal of more than 130 antibiotics. The drugs ...

Obesity linked to our nervous system

The team scoured DNA libraries of more than 300,000 people, constructing the largest-ever genetic map of obesity. Looking for consistent ...
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Coming age of Xenotransplantation: Would you accept an organ from a pig to save your life?

David Warmflash |
21 people die every day in the US awaiting a transplant. A shortage of organs means a shortage of organs ...

Drug-resistant malaria may pose enormous threat, doctor warns

Shirley S. Wang |
Despite a sharp drop in malaria-related deaths over the past decade, a veteran doctor here, in the heart of the ...

Discussion with Mary-Claire King: Breast cancer gene discoverer

Claudia Dreifus |
There has never been a scientific career quite like Mary-Claire King’s. Years ago, her doctoral thesis concluded that humans and ...