Science Controversies
We are on the verge of engineering embryos immune from hereditary diseases—and a couple has already volunteered to provide their fertilized egg for a test run
Herasight, which formally launched this summer with backing from influential Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Draper Associates, is charging $50,000 for ...
While AI revolutionizes the world, the human brain rots
The most high-profile study this year about A.I.’s effects on the brain came out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ...
Viewpoint: White genocide—The potential for ideologically weaponizing AI is growing and potentially dangerous
The AI chatbot Grok went on an antisemitic rant on July 8, 2025, posting memes, tropes and conspiracy theories used ...
Viewpoint: Environmental toxin hysteria—MIT’s Undark embarrasses with hysteria-driven story aligning itself with false claims that ‘environmental toxins’ (whatever that means) are crippling our health
MIT’s Undark magazine describes itself as a publication that “will explore science … as a frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of ...
Viewpoint: South Korea’s outdated crop gene editing regulations stifles agricultural production
At a policy seminar where Korea’s science community, agriculture sector and government gathered to discuss regulatory reforms for gene editing ...
Citing no evidence, RFK, Jr.’s newly-appointed FDA vaccine advisor spreads false information about risks of immunizations, setting the stage for lax policies and a surge in preventable diseases
The Food and Drug Administration will upend its approach to immunizations for respiratory illnesses, including flu vaccines, according to an ...
Rod Kissmee claims ‘‘I have very strong sperm!’: Welcome to the wild west world of social media sperm selling
A man going by the name “Rod Kissme” claims to have “very strong sperm”. It may seem like an eccentric ...
Viewpoint: ‘Organoid intelligence’?—Ethical questions arise in using organoid human brain nuggets to study disease
As months turned to years, Dr. Arlotta’s team set a record for the oldest documented brain organoids. “We never thought ...
How the pro-life movement undermined Trump’s free IVF campaign promise
Social and religious conservatives spent more than a year lobbying first the Trump campaign and then the administration against mandating ...
Is the mind distinct from the brain, or are we nothing more than chemicals and firing neurons?
COSM 2025 included a debate between neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and well-known skeptic Michael Shermer on the question of “Are Human ...
Viewpoint—Chemophobia: The alliance of environmental activists and lawyers
From tampons to tap water, from cereal boxes to vaccines, nearly every modern health scare rests on the same myth: ...
The fear that AI machines will soon be smarter than humans is just another conspiracy theory
Every age has its believers, people with an unshakeable faith that something huge is about to happen—a before and an ...
Viewpoint: The U.S. Congress needs to dramatically and quickly overhaul its regulation of agricultural biotechnology
Since the 1986 release of the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology almost 40 years ago, there have been two ...
Viewpoint: Sobering and scary—An inside report on the growing size and influence of the anti-vaccine movement
From wellness influencers worried about Wi-Fi to crypto enthusiasts trading peer-to-peer coins, the CHD [Children's Health Defense] conference offered something ...
Is animal testing still necessary? Will it be phased out?
[The] UK’s science minister announced an ambitious plan: to phase out animal testing. ... The news follows similar moves by ...
Viewpoint: Jane Goodall was duped by anti-crop biotechnology conspiracy junk science
Jane Goodall is well-deserving of the many laudatory obituaries recently published. But there is one disturbing twist in the great ...
Viewpoint: The Washington Post’s ignorant article suggesting corn country deaths are driven by the herbicide glyphosate
Several weeks ago, the Washington Post ran an article titled “The mysterious rise of cancer among adults in the Corn Belt.” It ...
A third start-up joins the race to create ethically-acceptable CRISPR babies
A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he’s secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely ...
Our ancestors balanced eating and fasting as a survival mechanism. It still has benefits today
Ever worried that skipping breakfast might leave you foggy at work? Or that intermittent fasting would make you irritable, distracted ...
GLP podcast: Cookies addictive like heroin? Toxicologist dismantles ‘food addiction’
Enjoying delicious food is a fundamental part of the human experience. Few of us would deny the enjoyment we get ...
AI-designed viruses raise fears over creating life
A group of Stanford University scientists posted a paper online in mid-September, describing a feat that could have been plucked from the ...
Were dodo birds really dodo-heads? Rescuing the reputation of an undeservedly smeared species
Until the last decade or so, the dodo was depicted as a comically chubby, clumsy cretin, too complacent and trusting ...
Will we ever have a sex robot?
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, is trying to walk a fine line. On the one hand, he thinks that ...
Viewpoint: Science is a corporate conspiracy: The consequences of the alliance between RFK, Jr., his MAHA acolytes, and science-distorting enviro activists
A National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences paper is sounding the alarm about detectable per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in ...
Rightfully concerned your dog could die of rabies? Many vaccine-suspicious pet owners follow RFK, Jr.’s guidance, increasingly reject life-protecting jabs
For most of her career, vaccination was a routine, unremarkable part of Dr. McGuire’s work as a small animal veterinarian ...
Challenging misinformation: No, Mr. Kennedy, fragments of DNA do not persist in the body
People are still debating whether the mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines remains in the body longer than it should. Some say ...
About “genetic losers” and “mad genes”: My encounter with one of the most brilliant and controversial scientists of the genome era
The recent death of James Watson, co-discoverer with Francis Crick of the three-dimensional structure of the genetic material DNA, brought ...
