Science Controversies
Dr. Google is being kicked to the curb. Welcome to AI. Will the diagnoses be any better?
For the past two decades, there’s been a clear first step for anyone who starts experiencing new medical symptoms: Look ...
Social media gullibility: Challenging student’s increasing embrace of conspiracy theories
Mike Evans knew something had to change. As the lead instructor for American Government 1101 at Georgia State University in ...
Viewpoint—It’s time to challenge the European Union’s data-less restrictions on genetically modified (GMO) crops
Curious about where the EU currently stands on regulating green biotechnology? For a comprehensive overview, dive into our exclusive three-way ...
RFK, Jr.’s Children Health Defense files racketeering suit against American Academy of Pediatrics claiming it endorses vaccines because it’s on-the-take from drug makers
Children’s Health Defense [CDC], the anti-vaccine advocacy group founded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., has filed ...
Biological age craze: Are longevity tests and clinics a scam?
People are flocking to so-called longevity clinics and buying tests online to find out their “biological age”—a metric that some scientists say ...
Viewpoint: Do Big Pharma and doctors collect big bucks ‘peddling’ vaccines?
[On January 21, 2026], the Texas Attorney General announced a formal investigation into “unlawful financial incentives” for childhood vaccines, claiming ...
Rejecting global science guidance, RFK, Jr.’s vaccine panel chair says polio shots should be optional
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who is chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said that he did ...
Viewpoint: Vaccine skeptics permeating the Trump administration are remaking U.S. health policy—for the worse
Martin Kulldorff, chair of the Trump administration’s reconstituted CDC vaccine panel, made a shocking — and misleading — statement as ...
14 million child study debunks RFK, Jr. and COVID vaccine rejectionists claim that vaccinations were more dangerous than the infection
Health misinformation remains one of Covid’s most damaging legacies, with online falsehoods fuelling vaccine hesitancy, sowing mistrust and eroding public ...
The dawn of the era of the AI therapist
Given the clear demand for accessible and affordable mental-health services, it’s no wonder that people have looked to artificial intelligence ...
‘We are approaching a watershed moment for psychedelic health care with ‘magic mushroom’ psilocybin the star’
In the billion-dollar race to commercialize psychedelic medicine, psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogen better known as magic mushrooms, or “shrooms,” ...
What might be the consequences of designing your baby?
Soon, all of humanity will be customised in the same way to design the next generation. Gene editing may be ...
Viewpoint: Trump is undermining U.S. success in science and innovation
Ever since World War II, the US has been the global leader in science and technology—and benefited immensely from it ...
Viewpoint: Media and science misinformation are rampant and corrupting. Finland believes they have a solution
In an era defined by “fake news”, public trust in institutions is increasingly under threat, along with our ability to ...
Viewpoint: Lancet’s reputation as a leading science journal takes another hit in its capitulation to MAHA fearmongering over ultra-processed food
The new Lancet Series on ultra-processed foods (UPFs) draws on decades of global data, mechanistic evidence, and more than 100 ...
Judging junk science: Here are the tools available for the courts to identify and block predatort and activist misinformation
Much has been written advising laypeople to navigate conflicting medical opinions and identify the golden truth amid the pervasive muck ...
What’s at stake as Europe attempts to depoliticize its agricultural biotechnology regulations and bring them more in accord with science
The current European regulatory framework relating to new genomic techniques (NGTs) is undergoing a thorough review. The ruling of the ...
Gene editing opens the door in Indonesia to dramatic advances in sustainable farming but skeptics remain
Like other developing countries, Indonesia is facing a familiar dilemma: how to feed a growing population while protecting its extraordinary biodiversity ...
Mandatory teaching of creationism: Oklahoma senator files state bill mandating teaching of ‘evolution science’
Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, is pushing back against an evolution-only curriculum in Oklahoma schools with newly filed Senate Bill 1868 ...
Viewpoint: It’s grim. U.S. science after a year of RFK, Jr. and Trump
More than 7,800 research grants terminated or frozen. Some 25,000 scientists and personnel gone from agencies that oversee research. Proposed ...
Restrictions on synthetic dyes and ultra-processed foods: RFK, Jr.’s MAHA movement policies gain traction in statehouses
When one of Adam Burkhammer’s foster children struggled with hyperactivity, the West Virginia legislator and his wife decided to alter ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr. and the future of children’s vaccines—Less science guidance, more parental gut opinions
For decades, Americans have looked to the federal government for advice on which vaccines their children should get and when ...
As abortion pills face new politically motivated legal threats, a new study defends the FDA’s evidence-based science
The abortion pill mifepristone is one of the most politically contentious medications in America, one increasingly targeted by anti-abortion activists ...
Viewpoint: France’s Le Monde endorses bizarre activist conspiracy disinformation about the ‘dangers’ of gene-edited crops
Le Monde published on December 10 (date on the web) and 11 (date of the print edition, published the day ...
Microplastics are invading our brain and bodies? New research says the claims in most studies are wrong and some are a “joke”
High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say ...
Yet another study rebukes RFK. Jr.’s false claim that Tylenol (acetaminophen/paracetamol) use can lead to autism
US President Donald Trump said in September there had been a "meteoric rise" in cases of autism and that Tylenol, ...
Viewpoint: Why RFK, Jr.’s promotion of ‘natural medicines and food’ is simplistic, often ignorant, and sometimes dangerous
Often, we’re given a choice between certain things – such as foods, medicines or procedures – that are deemed natural, ...
