Science Controversies
‘Green gene’ movement can blend genetic engineering and organic practices
While most people treat genetic engineering and organic agriculture as worlds apart, the green gene movement is trying to think ...
Frankenstein’s Cat: How biotechnology is shaping the future of animals
Emily Anthes’ ‘Frankenstein’s Cat – Cuddling Up To Biotech’s Brave New Beasts’, is now out in paperback and worth a read ...
Anti-GMO activists in Bangladesh caught lying about ‘failed’ Bt eggplant farms
Recently, the Financial Express in Bangladesh published a news article entitled ‘Pest-resistant Bt Brinjal comes under pest attack’, claiming that ...
Top GMO question consumers want answered: Do GMOs cause cancer?
It is telling that some consumers are most worried about cancer-causing GMOs when scientific evidence has pointed strongly otherwise: No, ...
Put things off until tomorrow? Blame your genes
A study by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder has found that a tendency to procrastinate is affected ...
Call to end anonymous egg and sperm donation points to lack of fertility industry regulation
A renewed call to end the anonymity of egg and sperm donors hopes to provide donor-conceived kids with important health ...
Insurance and genetics: Primed for discrimination
It's currently illegal in the United States for employers and health insurance companies to discriminate based on genetic information, thanks ...
Greener paper through genetically engineered trees
Genetically engineered trees are easier to process into pulp, making tree farming less resource-intensive. The same techniques could be adapted ...
DNA nanorobots deliver medicine inside cockroaches, act like a computer
"It's a computer -- inside a cockroach." So writes Sarah Spickernell in a fascinating account at New Scientist of DNA-based ...
Does the Union of Concerned Scientists’s Doug Gurian-Sherman misrepresent GMOs?
Do advances in conventional breeding make genetic engineering unnecessary? That's the controversial claim by Union of Concerned Scientist's Doug Gurian-Sherman, ...
India set to approve GM jute, second biotech crop after cotton
India is likely to see commercialization of genetically modified (GM) jute in a month. Developed by the Kolkata University, GM ...
Vermont’s GMO-labeling law should be considered more carefully
The decision by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Vermont to pass a bill requiring labels on foods made ...
Vermont legislators confident of GMO-labeling bill
Legislation that would make Vermont the first state in the country to require the labeling of food products that contain ...
Breast cancer genes: Beyond BRCA1 and BRCA2
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are classic tumor-suppressor genes that repair breaks in double-stranded DNA. But even with the BRCA mutations known ...
Video: Cargill says mandatory GMO-labeling is ‘long-term mistake’
Cargill executive chairman Gregory Page discussed the impact of global warming on the nation’s food supply, rising food prices and ...
Evolution of E.coli’s most virulent strain happened since 2000
Scientists have come closer to understanding how a clone of E. coli, described as the most important of its kind ...
What is direct to consumer genetic testing actually worth?
Cyrus Farivar uses several direct to consumer genetic testing companies to explore his health risks, specifically for Alzheimer's disease. In ...
Parkinson’s researchers look for genetic connection to Ashkenazi Jews
The second part of a study of Ashkenazi Jews who carry the LRRK2 gene, the most common genetic contributor to ...
Severe childhood stress ages chromosomes decades
Children growing up in severely disadvantaged circumstances can experience drastic chromosome ageing. By the time they are 9 years old ...
Average Joe’s take on the GMO controversy: How to evaluate conflicting claims
GMO Skepti-Forum has begun featuring essays by readers on the GMO controversy. We're going to be featuring some of them ...
Fear of insurance, employment loophole may keep some from sequencing their genomes
About 700,000 Americans have had their DNA sequenced, in full or in part, and the number is rising rapidly as ...
Secretary of Agriculture backs GMOs, farming ‘collaboration’ in House hearing
The topic of genetically modified food has come up in a handful of hearings lately, and the message from this ...
Genes for enjoying speed protective against ADHD and schizophrenia
A euphoric response to amphetamine could signal the presence of gene variants associated with protection against attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ...
‘Junk’ DNA getting more and more important
DNA is the molecule that encodes the genetic instructions enabling a cell to produce the thousands of proteins it typically ...
Gut bacteria determines colon cancer progression
Colorectal cancer develops in what is probably the most complex environment in the human body, a place where human cells ...
Department of Defense makes new push into biotech
The U.S. Department of Defense’s research arm is making a concerted grasp at biotechnology. On 1 April, the Defense Advanced ...
3D model of malaria genome to help understand how disease works
For the first time, scientists have generated a 3D model of the human malaria parasite genome at three different stages ...
