Science Controversies
Viewpoint: Here’s how the New York Times botched an op-ed about placebos
As part of the continuing decline of the New York Times, we have this new op-ed by Steve Petrow, a writer ...
Viewpoint: Why we need better tools to identify depression in autistic people
Depression is more common among autistic people than it is among the general population, based on both clinical experience and ...
Ireland reaffirms ban on GMO crop cultivation, citing status as ‘green, sustainable food producer’
The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, has secured Cabinet approval to enable Ireland to prohibit or ...
Who will CRISPR benefit? How to prevent this life-saving technology from creating gender and geographical disparities
From cancer to malaria to HIV, CRISPR is set to open up all kinds of dramatic breakthroughs in medicine, as ...
Fighting disease with genetically modified bacteria
Several companies are testing whether engineered bacteria can treat conditions that affect the brain, liver and other organs — and ...
Here’s how we can defend ourselves against bioweapons
It may only be a matter of time before synthetic biology, such as weaponized pathogens, finds its way into a ...
Biosimilar market creates rift in drug industry known for its solidarity
The pharmaceutical industry’s massive lobbying operation has a well-earned reputation for maintaining a united front on most of the major ...
Cancer screening could be revolutionized by new cell sorting method
The field of cytometry, or cell measurement—which helps doctors diagnose problems including cancer, in which cells morph into unusual forms—has ...
What’s behind public fear of GMO foods in developing countries?
The genetically modified organism (GMO) debate remains engulfed in a maelstrom of controversies. Sadly, what is largely a First-World debate ...
Why do young adults with autism have more health problems?
Young people with autism have more psychiatric and medical conditions than do their typical peers or those with attention deficit ...
First marijuana-based drug gets nod from FDA for 2 forms of epilepsy
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday [June 25] approved the country’s first drug derived from marijuana, a medication that ...
Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein: USDA’s GMO labeling proposal provides no benefits, high cost to consumers
Should a federal agency issue a regulation that will impose up to $3.5 billion in costs next year and billions ...
Precision medicine and cancer: More than just ‘mutant-hunting’
In many of our genome-obsessed minds, the problem of cancer had become reduced to a rather simple, scalable algorithm: find ...
Limiting brain damage in stroke patients by controlling inflammation
In an ischemic stroke a clot blocks a blood vessel to the brain, depriving oxygen and nutrients to part of ...
FDA changing policy on how best to spur development of biosimilar drugs that resemble brand-name biologics
In an unusual step, the Food and Drug Administration withdrew a draft guidance that was issued last fall to help companies develop ...
What Right to Try Act means for pharmaceutical and biotech companies
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies need to start preparing for the compliance and reporting requirements of a controversial new law. US ...
With gene drives, we could delete’ an entire invasive species. Should we?
In a windowless London basement, behind three sets of locked steel doors and a wall of glass, thousands of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes cling ...
Viewpoint: Science hype doomed startup that promised to upload brains ‘to the cloud’
This past March, headlines suddenly flooded the Internet about a startup company called Nectome. Founded by two graduates of the ...
Could the rise of New Breeding Techniques like CRISPR soften opposition to crop biotechnology?
“Mother Nature” is changing quickly and this requires the adoption of technology-driven solutions that will help both growers and consumers, ...
Genetically engineered monkeys? China is using them for autism research
[MIT genetics researcher Guoping] Feng now travels to China several times a year, because there, he can pursue research he ...
Viewpoint: Indian anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva ‘spreads misinformation and fear’ about conventional agriculture
I attended a presentation given by Vandana Shiva, a well-known anti-GMO activist, at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. It was definitely an ...
Viewpoint: Do-it-yourself biotech movement an ‘unlikely biosecurity threat’
Contrary to alarmist headlines, the DIYbio movement is an unlikely biosecurity threat. The 'do-it-yourself' biology (DIYbio) community has had its ...
Biotech executive facing end-stage cancer and the seduction of experimental drugs
For years, Michael Becker was one of the drug executives navigating swarms of cancer doctors at the annual meeting of ...
Can we figure out how to get new drugs to the market faster?
Have you heard the oft-repeated “fact” that it takes at least 10 years from initial discovery for a new drug ...
Fears of ‘designer babies’ are surfacing again
"What we're seeing is a fast slide down a very slippery slope toward designer babies," warned Marcy Darnovsky. … What has alarmed ...
Right to try? Drug companies can’t be forced to let terminal patients try experimental treatments
Just after her second birthday, additional testing, including an MRI of her brain and spine followed by a genetic analysis, ...
Non-GMO Project: USDA’s labeling proposal makes us ‘more relevant than ever’
The Non-GMO Project will “only become more relevant” as mandatory GMO labeling kicks in, in part because its scope could ...
