Science Controversies
Ticking time bomb: Being obese ‘more than doubles’ risk of common forms of cancer
Being overweight or obese has been linked to at least 13 types of cancer. Obesity more than doubles the risk ...
AI and digital health devices: FDA’s new guidelines seek to ‘strike a delicate balance’ between safety and innovation
The Food and Drug Administration has issued new guidelines on how it will regulate mobile health software and products that ...
Organic industry opposes CRISPR gene editing to preserve its ‘natural’ farming methods
During a hearing earlier this summer, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary Greg Ibach expressed interest in opening the discussion surrounding ...
Something new to worry about: Mosquito-borne brain-infecting EEE virus may be fueled by warming climate
Health officials in several states [have] reported more cases and deaths linked to the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus. The ...
A world without aches: First inklings of a drug that could eradicate chronic pain
After decades of research into the cellular basis of chronic pain, [pharmacologist Peter] McNaughton believes he has discovered the fundamentals ...
Distrust in government, biotech literacy dictate public opinion on GMO crops in China, survey shows
This paper analyzes the awareness and attitudes of the Chinese public toward genetically modified (GM) foods with different types of ...
Gene-editing technology creates ‘difficult ethical questions and moral dilemmas’
Emerging gene-editing technology is raising questions around the world about the ethics of altering the structure of life: DNA. From Europe ...
Sustainable bacon: CRISPR-edited pigs could survive deadly disease, but public support key to success
Genome editing could be a ‘key tool’ in improving the efficiency of UK pig production and could help in tackling ...
‘We don’t have an answer yet’: Nearly 100 doctors have failed to diagnose man’s mystery illness
When [Bob] Schwartz, who battles insomnia, does manage to fall asleep, he wakes up every 90 minutes to urinate copiously ...
Biotech startups challenge multinational seed company market domination with CRISPR
Inari, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, plans to use the total $144 million it has raised so far to develop crops ...
6 co-authors of controversial study that raised alarms about Oxitec’s GMO mosquito release in Brazil call for paper’s retraction
[The public] was alarmed in mid-September when an article published in the Scientific Reports pointed to the presence in Bahia ...
Alternative treatments for opioid addiction? Florida doctors forced to endorse chiropractic, acupuncture, massage
Billed as an effort to combat the opioid crisis, a new Florida law requires physicians and other healthcare practitioners to endorse ...
‘Wholly unethical’: Gay conversion therapy does not work
The World Psychiatric Association has declared that conversion therapy is “wholly unethical.” Yet despite the legal bans, the retractions, the ...
This ‘psychedelic’ treatment can cure opioid addition. It also might kill you
With proper treatment, withdrawing from opioids won’t kill you, but it can make you want to die. … The desperation ...
Food industry battle against record fine in GMO labeling case heads to Washington Supreme Court
A trade group representing manufacturers has asked the Washington Supreme Court to overturn a record fine against the food industry ...
HPV vaccines are not just for women: Throat, mouth cancer rates rising for men
Earlier this year, the biotech community mourned the loss of Michael Becker, a former pharmaceutical industry executive. … Becker’s cancer was ...
World’s favorite banana faces extinction. Are GMOs, CRISPR the final hope?
The race to engineer the next-generation banana is on. The Colombian government confirmed [in August] that a banana-killing fungus has ...
Gene drives and other ‘out-of-the-box approaches’ can eradicate malaria by 2050, scientists say
“For too long, malaria eradication has been a distant dream, but now we have evidence that malaria can and should ...
Soot in the womb: Research suggests air pollution threatens developing babies
Breathing in polluted air may send soot far beyond a pregnant woman’s lungs, all the way to the womb surrounding ...
‘Virus really has no chance’: Protein-suppressing treatment could stop common cold in its tracks
A team at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, found one of the components which the viruses ...
Former EU food safety commissioner: Europe can’t afford to ignore the crop gene editing revolution
Debate on new breeding techniques is intense. Sometimes dubbed by their opponents as the “new GMOs” who raise concerns over ...
Judge green lights class action lawsuit over Nestle’s ‘No GMO Ingredients’ product label
A federal judge .... denied a bid by food and beverage giant Nestle to toss a consumer class action claiming ...
Organic Farmers Association rejects USDA offer to discuss benefits of CRISPR gene editing
Organic grower groups on Sept. 17 wrote they are strongly opposed to opening a formal dialogue about allowing gene-editing in ...
Asia is pulling ahead in the AI race – but are ethics being prioritized?
Globally, future outlooks for artificial intelligence (AI) swing between two extremes—excited anticipation about the positive impact AI will have on ...
Can we trust self-regulation? As artificial embryos creep closer to the real thing, when do we hit pause?
[R]esearchers at the University of Michigan are reporting that they’ve learned to efficiently manufacture realistic models of human embryos from stem cells ...
Biomedicine, vaccines and antibiotics dramatically better human lives, but critics raise specter of ‘dangerous viruses’ and bioterrorism
Although continued innovation will further improve people’s lives, it will also give rise to new threats. … True, better diagnostics, ...
Podcast: Plagiarism, data fabrication in science threaten public health. Meet one biologist who’s fighting back
Scientific misconduct is a serious problem in academia today. High-profile examples of data fabrication, falsification or plagiarism often generate lots ...
