Science Controversies
AI paired with gene editing poised to escalate fight against tomato diseases
Aided by artificial intelligence, researchers at UC Davis managed to strengthen plants’ immune response by re-engineering protein structures that detect ...
Viewpoint: Science is now hopelessly tribal, and the Trump administration is making it worse
Public health in America has always been divisive because it sits at the intersection of science, government authority, personal freedom ...
GLP podcast: ‘Hyperreality.’ How the digital world severs our connection to truth
Endless social media feeds, 24-hour news cycles, and AI-driven search engines have empowered us to curate the content we consume ...
Vindication for He Jiankui? Seven years after the Chinese scientist’s pioneering work landed him in jail, scientists and ethicists are exploring the inevitably of gene edited babies
A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's ...
Sophie’s Choice: ‘My 29-year old daughter’s AI bot helped her write her suicide note’—but didnt alert anyone about her deteriorating mental health. Can we program intervention?
Sophie’s Google searches suggest that she was obsessed with autokabalesis, which means jumping off a high place. Autodefenestration, jumping out ...
Genius children: Silicon Valley billionaires are throwing money at strategies to engineer brilliant children
This isn’t science fiction. It is Silicon Valley, where interest in breeding smarter babies is peaking. Parents here are paying ...
Understanding plant biodiversity: Myths and facts
[W]hen we say “lost genetic diversity”, everyone understands extinction both in terms of species and variety. The registered varieties have ...
Viewpoint: The Catholic Church’s new guidelines on AI fail to account for the overlap of evolution and technology
While the Vatican acknowledges stages of technological development, it lacks a model of integrating science and religion that can adequately ...
Viewpoint — Agricultural biotechnology: Government regulations and court rulings in 7 jurisdictions around the world
Many courts around the world have issued judicial opinions about agricultural biotechnology. ... In chronological order of issuing the opinion, ...
GLP spaces on X: Climate change and meat. Separating fact from hype
Red meat is often scapegoated as a major villain in the popular story about our global efforts to prevent a ...
Viewpoint: The social justice corruption of medicine
Today, social justice imperatives are deeply entrenched in the medical profession. As a close observer of such trends, I have ...
GLP podcast: Deadly mistake? RFK, Jr. guts mRNA vaccine research
Iconoclastic Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has once again roiled the science community, cancelling $500 million ...
Viewpoint—Science arsonist: NIH director is like the firefighter who sets a house ablaze so he can put it out and claim he’s a hero
On August 12, Jay Bhattacharya wrote an op-ed defending Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services’ decision ...
Nuclear concerns: What are the dangers as AI gets baked into our nuclear arsenal
The people who study nuclear war for a living are certain that artificial intelligence will soon power the deadly weapons. None of them ...
Tripping your way to better mental health?
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: [I]t seemed like there might finally be an opening for psychedelics to become a part of the ...
Viewpoint: RFK Jr.’s FDA fake review of fluoride supplements with already announced plan to ban them is terrible science
Extensively studied over decades, fluoride has been scientifically validated for its effectiveness in reducing dental cavities, particularly in children. It ...
Viewpoint: 98 years ago, Carrie Buck was labeled an ‘imbecile’ and ordered sterilized. Today, the wealthy can select the ‘best genes’ for their child. Is there a difference?
Almost 100 years ago, Carrie Buck was raped, labeled an “imbecile,” and sterilized by order of the state — all ...
Genetic engineering is deeply woven into every aspect of modern life
For years, politicians and environmental organizations have been needlessly stoking fears about a technology that has been helping to conserve ...
Viewpoint: California’s science-challenged Proposition 65 toxic chemical regulation are at center of ‘tort shakedown’ racket
Not to0 many years ago, my wife and I once elebrated our anniversary in South Lake Tahoe, situated on the ...
GLP podcast: Legalize all drugs? Here’s an ER doctor’s perspective
As an increasing number of US states begin to liberalize their drug laws, allowing recreational use of marijuana and even ...
Rfk, Jr. guts U.S. support for mRNA vaccines that target bird flu, human flu and coronaviruses, falsely claiming they are dangerous despite decades of safe use
The US is making swingeing mRNA development cuts, hugely deprioritising a Nobel Prize-winning field of research widely lauded for its ...
Why gene editing of food crops remains controversial
Gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9 have many uses in the area of food and agriculture. They can combat persistent drought ...
Viewpoint: MAHA and RFK, Jr. have it backward: Celebrating elimination of safe chemicals while gutting healthcare and food assistance programs
The White House and HHS are congratulating themselves for “major victories for American health.” Their actions are doing the opposite ...
Can gene editing eliminate Down syndrome? Scientists have done it in lab-grown cells
Could Down syndrome one day be corrected at the cellular level? Japanese scientists may have taken an extraordinary step toward ...
Viewpoint: A skeptical view of the still far-fetched idea of human cloning
At least 25 species have now been cloned, and variants on the technology are still being developed: The recent “de-extinction” of ...
Silicon Valley ‘superbabies’: Elon Musk and other investors claim genetic screening nothing more than a genetic trust fund
[Noor Siddiqui's] company, San Francisco-based Orchid Health, screens embryos for thousands of potential future illnesses, letting prospective parents plan their ...
Viewpoint: The Chemical Panic Industry — to the delight of tort lawyers, activist researchers invent the myth of the ‘exposome’
There is a chemical in my soup. There’s a microplastic that might be harmful. There are particles in the air ...
