Science Controversies
‘For people who continue to hesitate or to choose not to get vaccinated, they are losing privileges’: Quebec to enforce ‘unvaxxed tax’
One day after the Canadian province of Quebec announced it would financially penalize residents who are unvaccinated, the province's health ...
How the pandemic is significantly affecting kids’ brains
Like many pediatricians, Dani Dumitriu braced herself for the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus when it first surged in her ...
After the success of at-home COVID tests, what’s the future for at-home diagnostics?
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US has been transformed through new technologies. The speed of progress in ...
‘COVID Rashomon’: Fractured response to Omicron surge has spurred some Americans to say they’re ‘vaxxed and done’
The messiness of Omicron data—record-high cases! but much milder illness!—has deepened our COVID Rashomon, in which different communities are telling ...
China greenlights pest- and herbicide-resistant genetically modified corn and soybeans after 10 years of safety studies
Genetically modified corn and soybean involved in a pilot program have obtained safety certificates for production and application after an ...
COVID force shift: Surge in milder variant focus global adaptation strategy rethink
Now Omicron is sweeping across state after state—even highly vaccinated ones—and new cases are shooting up and up. The virus ...
Should transgender teenagers be required to undergo psychological assessments before receiving hormones? Debate surges
An upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align their bodies with their gender identities has ignited a ...
Deported Novak Djokovic likely to face more tournament bans this year as a result of his refusal to get vaccinated
When Novak Djokovic boarded a flight from Melbourne, Australia to Dubai on [January 16], he put an end to the ...
How human germline editing transformed from ethically suspect to acceptable
Two major reports in the UK and USA have recently sanctioned as ethically acceptable genome editing of future generations for ...
No morning espresso for the unvaccinated French, as new law sets sharp restrictions on restaurants, concerts and sporting events
France’s parliament approved a law [January 16] that will exclude unvaccinated people from all restaurants, sports arenas and other venues, ...
Medical abortion: What does it mean — and why is the US relaxing regulations on it?
The US Food and Drug Administration relaxed certain federal regulations [December 16] on medication abortion, a two-medication process that has ...
When it comes to embracing biotechnology in agriculture, ‘the rest of the world is not waiting for Europe’
"The rest of the world..." warns Anna Meldolesi, "is not waiting for Europe." CRISPR, the molecular scissors at the basis ...
US eclipses Europe as global Omicron hot spot
There are already early signs in hospitalization and ICU data that the experience of Omicron in America may be harsher ...
Viewpoint: ‘Collective failure’ — US government agencies issued confusing and conflicting messages as COVID crisis unfolded
What originally was 10 days of isolation after initial contact with someone who tested positive for COVID has turned into ...
Transplant of genetic modified pig heart into a human sparks ethical debate
Amedical team at the University of Maryland Medical Center announced [January 10] that it had accomplished a world-first: Its surgeons had ...
Viewpoint: Obsolete regulations block using CRISPR to develop safer potatoes, healthier tomatoes and climate resistant crops
CRISPR technology is a major technological breakthrough compared to the genome modification technologies that preceded it; developed then published by ...
Viewpoint: Should Anthony Fauci and the federal government declare a ‘new normal’ in the battle against endemic COVID?
On [January 6], six medical experts close to the White House published three op-eds in the Journal of the American Medical Association, ...
Self-spreading immunity? The potential dark side to preventing future pandemics with vaccines that spread like viruses
Imagine a future scenario in which a dangerous new virus is detected in chimpanzees. To prevent this virus from spreading ...
Overcoming vaccine reluctance: How Walmart has become a surprise leader in challenging irrational opposition
Our Rutgers-affiliated NGO, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), set out to create a data-driven forecast of vaccine reluctance. In collaboration ...
Slow embrace of CRISPR gene editing stifles sustainable innovation in the animal agriculture sector
Regulations on gene editing of animals are contributing to negative public perceptions of the technology and stifling innovation in the ...
Why newly approved Alzheimer’s drug is such a disaster
A few months ago, the FDA approved a new drug, aducamumab, to treat Alzheimer’s disease. This was the first time ...
Viewpoint: Beyond the precautionary principle — Climate change concerns underscore need for coordinated, flexible crop gene editing regulation
Although public-sector research centers across the developing world initially enthusiastically embraced biotech processes, wide adoption has since been impeded by ...
‘Great potential harm to international harmony’: When COVID broke, key scientists believed virus could have leaked from Wuhan lab, but Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins suppressed debate
Early in the pandemic, multiple scientists urged NIAID Director Anthony Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins to seriously consider the ...
CRISPR poised to lead a revolution in managing crop diseases and pests
Plant diseases alone cause around 40% of global crop losses, and their emergence and re-emergence have always remained an alarming ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) can catch difficult-to-detect cancers in dense breasts–leading to better outcomes
MRI scans provide more detailed images than conventional mammography. At the same time, it takes a lot of time for ...
Even before COVID, 25% of parents were hesitant to vaccinate their young children and only 44% had them fully vaxxed
Data from a survey representing more than 7,500 parents showed that about one-quarter were hesitant to get their child vaccinated ...
CORBEVAX: Could this vaccine corral COVID in the developing world?
A vaccine authorized in December for use in India may help solve one of the most vexing problems in global ...
