Science Controversies
Shedding light on ‘bizarre’ 1930s procedure in which doctors injected malaria into human brains
A new paper in a neurosurgery journal sheds light on one of the most bizarre and shocking medical procedures ever ...
‘Self-destruct mechanism’ could lead to malaria vaccine
While a vaccine would be the ideal method for eliminating malaria from the human population, all attempts thus far to ...
Does the coronavirus ‘linger in the air’ long enough be dangerous? Why we can’t answer that question.
Scientists are debating a key aspect of the coronavirus that causes covid-19: whether the virus lingers in the air for ...
USDA won’t regulate gene-edited camelina, accelerating development of sustainable omega-3 oil source
In January 2020, Yield10 submitted an “Am I Regulated?” letter to the BRS, requesting confirmation of the regulatory status for ...
Coronavirus ‘immunity passports’? Why it’s too early to know whether survivors are safe
Policymakers have another reason to scramble to deploy antibody tests: they could indicate whether someone is immune to SARS-CoV-2. With ...
Secretive coalition of scientists, billionaires pushing Manhattan Project-inspired coronavirus solution
A dozen of America’s top scientists and a collection of billionaires and industry titans say they have the answer to ...
Emergency FDA authorization of remdesivir expected after experimental coronavirus drug shows promise in trial
The F.D.A. plans to announce ... an emergency use authorization for remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug that is being tested ...
Seeking mainstream acceptance for psychedelic drugs: Will entrepreneurs ruin it for everyone else?
After spending decades as highly illegal and restricted substances, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD, MDMA, DMT, and other psychedelic drugs are ...
UK considers coronavirus-free medical centers to get cancer treatments back on track
Thousands of cancer patients in the UK have had their treatment stopped or delayed because of COVID-19, and with pressures ...
Injecting tumors with a flu shot ignites cancer-killing immune response in mice
Nearly 5,000 years ago, Egyptian physician Imhotep observed a grotesque but revealing detail about tumors: some grew so large that ...
‘Digital’ contact tracing: How would the US react to coronavirus containment effort that tracks our cell phones?
There’s a reason contact tracing has survived the test of time: it works. Thanks to epic efforts at hunting down ...
Viewpoint: US failure to ‘study drugs more quickly’ means more people are dying from coronavirus
When medical historians look back at the Covid-19 pandemic, they will reckon with how the United States, with its vast ...
When coronavirus patients don’t have time to wait: Pandemic forces ethical shift in assessing treatments
Normally, it takes about eight years to move a drug through clinical trials and approval by the US Food and ...
Can decades-old vaccines against polio and tuberculosis protect against the coronavirus?
Scientists are dusting off some decades-old vaccines against other germs to see if they could provide a little stopgap protection ...
Experimental drug remdesivir on verge of approval for coronavirus patients in Japan
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday [April 27] that Japan will soon approve the anti-viral drug remdesivir for the treatment ...
Kenya pushes GMO cotton farming to meet soaring demand for masks
The Kenyan government has begun distributing genetically modified (GM) and hybrid seeds in a bid to increase cotton production to ...
Using artificial intelligence to identify promising coronavirus treatments
Treating patients with the never-before-seen Covid-19 is forcing doctors to choose between two equally unpalatable options: try an unproven therapy ...
‘It’s going to be a project’: Looking at unconventional efforts to ramp up our coronavirus testing ability
Right now, [coronavirus] gene tests—the most accurate kind—are run only in labs or on special hospital instruments. But [biotech entrepreneur ...
Viewpoint: Coronavirus pandemic has alerted consumers to the ‘silliness’ of organic food marketing
Remember when buying those “non-toxic” cleaning supplies made you feel like you were being a good person? Yeah, those were ...
Why isn’t there an ‘accelerated pathway’ for approving treatments during a pandemic?
Commercial biopharmaceutical discovery is a less than ideal vehicle for responding to an outbreak of a new viral pathogen spreading ...
Gilead’s remdesivir offers little benefit for coronavirus patients in early trial
The antiviral medicine remdesivir from Gilead Sciences failed to speed the improvement of patients with Covid-19 or prevent them from ...
An essential but ‘disturbing’ question: What if coronavirus is here for good?
Most of the optimistic ideas about what to do about SARS-CoV-2 involve engineering the virus's extinction. We could ramp up ...
Coronavirus antibody tests: Can they return us to ‘normal’?
When will life return to normal, or at least a new normal? A major answer to the question of when ...
‘Perfect storm’: Why the coronavirus shut the world down, when SARS, Ebola and swine flu didn’t
In the past two decades, the world battled Ebola, SARS and more than one major flu outbreak. Those left tragedies ...
Scouring coronavirus patient genes to answer a question: Why do some people get deathly sick, when others don’t?
COVID-19, caused by the new pandemic coronavirus, is strangely—and tragically—selective. Only some infected people get sick, and although most of ...
Can we trust coronavirus antibody tests never reviewed by the FDA?
The Food and Drug Administration, criticized for slowness in authorizing tests to detect coronavirus infections, has taken a strikingly different ...
‘Sloppy’ CDC lab practices blamed for tainted coronavirus tests in early stages of pandemic
As the new coronavirus took root across America, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent states tainted test ...
