Science Controversies
Synthetic biology companies shift to making food additives and fragrances
The synthetic biology industry is looking to expand into creating food additives and fragrances, which could be very lucrative but ...
Genetic screening of embryos thwarts disease and creates ethical questions
Screening embryos for IVF lets parents avoid passing on deadly genetic diseases. But selecting according to gender or disease risk ...
Americans both excited and worried by advances in DNA research
Most Americans are excited about the possibility of scientific breakthroughs brought by DNA research, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds. But ...
Indian PM says government should not succumb to “unscientific prejudices” against GM crops
JAMMU: Batting for Bt crops, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India should not succumb to unscientific prejudices against genetically ...
Battle shapes up over GM sugar beets in Oregon
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - A David-and-Goliath political battle is shaping up over genetically modified crops in Southern Oregon. Some ...
Russian parliament considers longshot draft law banning GMO food
The Russian State Duma (the parliament’s lower house) has worked out a draft law which would totally ban the production ...
First African study on biodiversity in GM maize finds insects abundant
Previous studies around the world have concluded that the biodiversity of insects in GM crop fields was essentially the same ...
Gene-sequencing gives families of unknown genetic disorders hope
"Yes, my husband had to resuscitate him," says Rachel Jeffares calmly, as she describes one particularly traumatic episode when her ...
Should the FDA take a libertarian view of personal genomics?
Geneticists, lawyers, students and industry experts packed into a conference room on Stanford's campus this week to discuss the ethics ...
Why we need GM wheat
Three crops — corn, soybeans and wheat — account for a vast majority of the value of America’s agricultural crop ...
Independent UK editorial: Environmental movement credibility hinges on embracing GMOs
Contrary to the scaremongering of the anti-GM lobby, genetic engineering is less science-run-mad than a much-needed means to better health ...
Scott’s GM lawn grass undergoing home tests
After nearly two decades of research and some controversy, Scotts Miracle-Gro in Marysville is preparing to test a genetically modified ...
Colorado lawmakers again reject GMO labels
DENVER -- Labels on genetically modified foods have been rejected again by Colorado lawmakers. But the food-labeling debate could just be ...
Former US Ag Secretary John Block sizes up GM corn dispute with China
"As complex as the world trading system has become, it still fundamentally relies on something as simple as trust; Unfortunately, ...
Video: Is Hawaii’s Anti-GMO Movement Really Just Anti-Science?
Hawaii is at the center of the fight over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - and the food people are eating ...
How useful are animal studies for assessing GM foods?
If in doubt feed it to a rat and see what happens. So goes the philosophy of some risk assessment ...
What is a ‘healthy’ microbiome?
A group of culturally isolated villagers in the Amazon may hold the key to showing us what a healthy microbiome, ...
23andme finds genes for asthma (with hay fever)
23andMe, the leading personal genetics company, has participated in the first ever genome-wide association study of the combined asthma-with-hay fever ...
Pentagon speeding toward rapid DNA technology
Researchers are closing in on the final steps of a new system to analyze human DNA in 90 minutes instead ...
CRISPR can create viable, genetically modified monkeys
Researchers at Nanjing Medical University and Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research in Kunming, China, have created genetically modified ...
Just because scientists can genetically engineer foods doesn’t mean they should (or does it?)
This was written in response to the comment by Beth Hoffman in her article on Forbes, but it exceeded the given wordcount, ...
Is Monsanto hedging its bet on GMOs?
Is genetically modified seed giant Monsanto doing the unthinkable and moving away from genetically modified seeds? I've called Monsanto's press ...
British biotech company focuses on creating cellular factories
Imagine bacteria that eats pollution in water or can recycle gold from electronics -- the scope of synthetic biology is ...
New era of fast genetic engineering
Sequencing genomes has become easy. Understanding them remains incredibly hard. While the trickle of sequence information has turned into a ...
Fears about technology and food are misplaced
If fire was the first technology, then farming was the first applied science. For thousands of years, farmers and inventors ...
Scientists square off against activists over Golden Rice
It is an unusual scene, which took place January 23 in front of the Greenpeace-quarters in Brussels: For once demonstrated ...
Video: How GMOs are created
Learn how GMOs are created in the video below. View the video's YouTube page: How Are GMOs Created? ...
