Science Controversies
Why Joe Rogan is wrong about COVID mutations: ‘Evolution is, right now, occurring in the body of people who are not vaccinated’
Joe Rogan’s public misrepresentation of a 2015 vaccine study has gone viral. His misunderstanding of the study leads Rogan to ...
‘Two Americas’: How politics will shape our emergence from the pandemic
Newton, [Massachusetts] is an outlier even among outliers: More than 95 percent of people older than 30 have gotten at ...
Do we need a new COVID vaccine to fight new and potentially more lethal variants?
The rapid spread of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has put more patients in hospital beds and led to reinstatements ...
$25 or less: As students head back to college, officials anticipate surge in fake COVID-19 vaccination cards
As the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the United States, a growing number of colleges and universities are ...
CRISPR opens the door to altering nature. What could go right — and wrong?
Gene editing today usually means making precise changes using CRISPR, a bacterial DNA-cutting system adopted by scientists. It works within ...
A human protein genetically engineered into wheat plants increases yields by 50%. Is this dramatic tweak replicable?
It’s not enough to grow more food—humanity needs to grow more efficiently. With an eye toward feeding the world’s growing ...
Viewpoint: Republicans rally around Big Government controls, push top down, federal and statewide bans of local student vaccine and mask mandates
Seven Republican-led states have banned schools from requiring masks in the classroom. Ted Cruz and fellow Republican senator Kevin Cramer ...
Analysis: From horse dewormer to darling of the desperate — Here’s how the ivermectin disinformation train got rolling
[Editor's note: There has been a growing in the medical community about the surge in interest and use of the ...
Will you come to regret not getting your child vaccinated? Ben Franklin did — his son died of smallpox
Five weeks had passed since the death of Benjamin Franklin’s son, and rumors were swirling. Four-year-old Francis “Franky” Franklin had ...
We might be living with COVID risks for years to come
There’s a growing consensus among health experts: Covid-19 may never go away. We’ll likely always have some coronavirus out there, ...
Here are 6 of the most outrageous misconceptions circulating online about COVID vaccines
There are many reasons some Americans may be hesitant to receive the vaccine – some of which are based on ...
Vaccine mandates in schools are nothing new — they trace back to the 1800s
Several states, including Florida, Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Utah have already enacted legislation to ban public ...
Will approval of vitamin A-enhanced Golden Rice in the Philippines open floodgates for other GM biofortified crops and foods?
After decades in development, the Philippines became the first country on July 21st of this year to formally approve the ...
GMOs and gene edited foods face novel and sometimes conflicting regulations around the world. This study compares EU’s shut-down restrictions with 6 countries
Novel foods and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are subject to a large variation in regulatory approaches around the world, with ...
Should ‘male’ and ‘female’ be removed from birth certificates? AMA advisory committee says ‘yes’
For many Americans, birth certificates aren’t just an important identity marker, they are an entry point into many parts of ...
Delta surge sparks spike in virus disinformation
Coronavirus misinformation has spiked online in recent weeks, misinformation experts say, as people who peddle in falsehoods have seized on ...
A parasite is targeting bananas crops around the world — but African scientists are using CRISPR to stop it
All the cultivated banana varieties are susceptible to diseases — and Banana xanthomonas wilt (BXW) is particularly problematic. BXW is ...
Video fact check: Renegade former British police officer rouses crowd with false claims that COVID vaccines hospitalize people
Footage of a British man making already debunked allegations about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 vaccines has spread rapidly on ...
How many COVID-19 academic papers have been retracted, and why? Here’s the growing list
We’ve been tracking retractions of papers about COVID-19 as part of our database. Here’s a running list, which will be ...
Western consumers have generally positive attitudes toward gene-edited foods, two new studies find
Western consumers tend to have a generally positive view about genome-edited foods, though their awareness of the technology remains low, ...
Sticky substance that barnacles use to cling to rocks inspires biocompatible glue to quickly seal wounds
Inspired by the sticky substance that barnacles use to cling to rocks, MIT engineers have designed a strong, biocompatible glue ...
Fact check: Breakthrough infections from Delta or other COVID variants does not mean vaccines don’t work
Endless news cycles and viral social media warn of “breakthrough infections” in people already vaccinated for COVID-19. These reports leave ...
What label should the FDA require on lab grown seafood?
Food companies, regulators, marketers, journalists and others should use the terms "cell-based" or "cell-cultured" when labeling and talking about seafood ...
Can vaccine incentives break down COVID shot resistance?
While most people have got their vaccines, a still sizeable minority have not — and motivating them to do so ...
Viewpoint: Eco-imperialism invades the modern environmental movement and hurts the most vulnerable
Activists in the developing world and their allies in the West assert that developing countries must be permitted to chart ...
Is a Texas Republican politician’s vaccine denialism responsible for his own death? Here’s how the left and right fueled a partisan firestorm
When H. Scott Apley died at 45 of covid-19, he became a face of vaccine refusal by the political right ...
Conservative opponents of healthcare for trans youths draw on anti-abortion tactics
A rash of bills introduced in at least 20 states would limit trans youth’s access to gender-affirming care — and ...
