Science Controversies
In the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, ethical concerns abound
How do we ethically test it in people? Can people be forced to get the vaccine if they don’t want it? ...
Challenges containing massive inflammation that often accompanies COVID-19
[Brett] Breslow was suffering from a massive bout of inflammation — a catch-all description for the damage in many of ...
Can you get the coronavirus more than once within a few months? Scientists now say that’s unlikely
A New Jersey doctor claimed several patients healed from one bout only to become reinfected with the coronavirus. And another doctor said ...
The novel coronavirus is a random murderer
Six months into a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people globally, scientists are still trying to understand the ...
Planned Parenthood distances itself from its eugenics roots, removes founder Margaret Sanger’s name from its NYC building
[Planned Parenthood founder Margaret] Sanger, a public health nurse who opened the first birth control clinic in the United States ...
Vaccination wars: In the fight against COVID-19, pro-vax movement emerges to battle vaccine denialism
A new advocacy campaign is designed to mobilize the majority to speak out to help fight [vaccine] misinformation, at a ...
COVID-19 undercount: CDC now says as many as 24 times more people in the US infected
[A] study, published [July 21] in JAMA Internal Medicine [determined that the true number of U.S. coronavirus cases could be ...
Three vaccines show the most promise in stimulating immune responses
Vaccines being developed by University of Oxford researchers and AstraZeneca; Pfizer and German partner BioNTech; and China’s CanSino Biologics all ...
Artificial consent: Unproven AI making key decisions about patients health care without their knowledge
At a growing number of prominent hospitals and clinics around the country, clinicians are turning to AI-powered decision support tools ...
‘Desperation is not a strategy’: Slew of low quality studies clouds picture of how to confront COVID-19
Desperate to solve the deadly conundrum of COVID-19, the world is clamoring for fast answers and solutions from a research ...
Geopolitics of the future: AI autonomous fighting robots could spark a news arms race
Abishur Prakash, geopolitical futurist for the Center for Innovating the Future, discussed the potential scenarios that could unfold in the ...
Anti-vax activists exploit dark history of Tuskegee syphilis study to stir Black opposition to COVID-19 vaccines
[There’s] a remarkable new alliance between the anti-vaccine movement and black leaders in Colorado. Among those who testified against [a ...
Interactive Infographic: What is the risk of interacting with a COVID-19 positive individual in every county in the US
See the interactive infographic here ...
In over 10,000 sessions, secret supervised opioid injection site hasn’t had a single death or hospitalization
Operators of the supervised injection site say that over the course of five years, 10,514 injections and 33 opioid-involved overdoses, ...
‘It’s not premature to plan’: Deciding who gets the coronavirus vaccine first
The new coronavirus’ disproportionate toll on the elderly could put them at the front of the line [for a vaccine] ...
Podcast: The surprising science of epigenetics—How a family of ‘Mickey Mouse mice’ overturned our understanding of heredity
Kat Arney takes a look at the world of epigenetics, finding out if more than DNA passes on to the ...
Infants not at risk for COVID-19? One Texas county alone has had 85 cases, most under 1
The public health director in Nueces County on the Texas Gulf Coast said 85 children under 2 years old, including ...
Probiotics can’t help with most gastrointestinal issues, new guidelines say
If the gastrointestinal tract is a rainforest, then can oral doses of “good” bacteria provide meaningful health benefits? … The ...
Europe’s young farmers want to use latest sustainability tools—including gene editing
Young farmers’ organization, the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), took a generally positive but cautious view on the Commission’s ...
Kremlin-backed Russian hacker spies tried to steal vaccine research
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said [hackers targeting coronavirus vaccine information] "almost certainly" operated as "part of Russian ...
Missing antibodies: Why herd immunity may be “unachievable” without mass deaths or long-shot vaccine
[A] study of more than 60,000 people estimates that around just 5% of the Spanish population has developed antibodies, the ...
Coronavirus sharply disrupting global vaccinations, including HPV, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis
The World Health Organization and UNICEF warned [July 15] of an alarming decline in the number of children receiving life-saving ...
Activists push for magic mushroom decriminalization in DC
[July 8,] activists presented more than 36,000 signatures to the [Washington DC] Board of Elections. If the signatures hold up ...
European Union suspends some GMO regulations to fast-track COVID-19 vaccine
The EU’s stance on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has been criticized by the Consumer Choice Center, which has labelled it ...
Mystery inflammation syndrome connected to COVID-19 in children results in brain damage
[Children with COVID-19] can suffer everything from headaches to muscle weakness, along with visible signs of damage to the brain ...
Why worldwide HIV funding is taking a nosedive
As the novel coronavirus continues to squeeze government budgets, experts note there are more questions and uncertainties on the future ...
Is expecting herd immunity just wishful thinking? Some people are getting COVID-19 twice
[One of my patients has] tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, for a second time — three ...
