Science Controversies
AI blood sample analysis catches cancer early
Most popular DNA screenings for cancer risk test only a single gene site, like BRCA1. But Grail’s chief medical officer ...
Viewpoint: Telescoping coronavirus vaccine testing and approval timelines exposes all of us to unnecessary dangers
We all hope for a rapid end to the pandemic and an effective vaccine would be a surefire solution. But ...
Forced sterilizations in the US? It happened in California until 2013
Filmed over seven years, Erika Cohn’s Belly of the Beast exposes state-sanctioned sterilizations in California prisons through the story of ...
Our Neanderthal DNA might explain who gets sickest from COVID-19
[A] small fragment of the genetic code that has been inherited by modern humans from Neanderthals could carry the secret ...
Vaccine race accelerates, as Moderna-NIH partnership drug induces immune responses in all Phase 1 volunteers
[E]arly results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on [July 14], showed that [Moderna’s COVID-19] vaccine worked to ...
Trump administration pushing FDA to re-authorize hydroxychloroquine based on recent questionable study
[Trade advisor Peter Navarro is pushing for] a second emergency authorization for the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19, the ...
Teaching AI to think ethically
[M]athematicians have developed a model that can help businesses spot when commercial AI systems might make shady choices in the ...
Support for crop gene editing in UK, Europe grows as legislators aim to expand sustainable farming
Asked about the potential for biotech and gene editing in the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F), the EU’s new flagship ...
Aging eyes? Staring at bright red light could rescue your vision
A few minutes of looking into a deep red light could have a dramatic effect on preventing eyesight decline as ...
Latest partisan flashpoint: Gap between rising confirmed coronavirus infections and relatively flat death rate
President Donald Trump has brushed off the coronavirus surge by emphasizing the lower death rate, saying that “99 percent of ...
German-made vaccine likely ready by December, but BioNTech CEO says taming coronavirus might take a decade
Several hundred million doses [of a COVID-19 vaccine] could be produced even before approval, and over 1 billion by the ...
‘Zombie cells’ infected with coronavirus sprout ‘ghoulish’ tentacles that reach out and hijack neighbors
Researchers exploring the interaction between the coronavirus and its hosts have discovered that when the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects a human ...
Cytokine storms: This doctor hunting down a COVID-19 treatment the same way he cured his own rare disease
35-year-old associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine [David Fajgenbaum] leads the school's Center for Cytokine ...
Big risk, big rewards: Betting on RNA to make cheaper, faster coronavirus vaccines
[A] promising — but unproven — new generation of vaccine technologies is based on deploying a tiny snip of genetic ...
Crisis on the horizon? Nothing limits virus vaccine makers from charging exorbitant fees
[A] Covid-19 vaccine will have an actual price tag. And given the prevailing business-centric model of American drug pricing, it ...
Homeopathic remedies are just water – so how did this sex-enhancing ‘treatment’ get peer reviewed and published?
Chu et al. studied the effectiveness of a compound called Impaza, which they hoped would enhance erectile function in male ...
Viewpoint: All milk is ‘non-GMO,’ and 4 other facts you should know before you go grocery shopping
Just as you don’t want food with empty calories, avoid food with empty label claims such as “____-free”, “natural”, “farm-raised” ...
Testing negative for COVID-19 antibodies? Many people still have some protection against the virus
For every person testing positive for antibodies, two [people with negative tests] were found to have specific T-cells which identify ...
The rich get safer? Developing countries likely last in line to get virus vaccine
Worldwide, about a dozen potential COVID-19 vaccines are in early stages of testing. While some could move into late-stage testing ...
How does herd immunity work – and could it protect us from COVID-19?
Herd immunity is when a virus can no longer spread easily because enough people are immune to it. That lowers ...
COVID-19 is deadlier than the flu
Texas is just one of the states that has experienced a surge in coronavirus cases over recent weeks after relaxing ...
Green Party defends Europe’s simultaneous ban on gene-edited crops and use of biotech in medicine
[Editor's note: In June a faction of Germany's Green Party argued it was time the EU revised its strict regulation ...
Comprehensive pig genomes could advance animal gene editing—and help produce more bacon
For the first time, scientists have decoded the whole genetic make-up of pigs in a development that they say will ...
FDA shuts down sales of homeopathic shots containing toxic lead, mercury, strychnine
[The FDA cracked down] on four homeopathic companies selling injectable products said to contain highly toxic substances, including lead, mercury, ...
How the COVID pandemic may have helped Bayer settle crippling glyphosate-cancer litigation
[Editor's note: Biotech giant Bayer recently settled roughly 95,000 lawsuits alleging it Roundup herbicide causes cancer. The $10.9 billion settlement ...
American teens lose access to mental health care at 18 – with disastrous results
Age 18 is a particularly difficult time for a person to drop out of — or lose access to — ...
Why this COVID-19 spike is different: Current U.S. mutated version much more infectious than first wave virus but no more deadly
[A new COVID-19] mutation makes the virus more likely to infect people but does not seem to make them any ...
