Science Controversies
‘Wild West of CRISPR’? Ukraine clinic promises to gene edit graying hair, skin quality and breast size
If I had to pick one country that might be the epitome of the ‘Wild West’ of reproductive and genetic ...
50,000 athletes and visitors could descend on Tokyo for the Summer Olympics with COVID cases rising and just 1% of the population fully vaccinated. Japan is worried
The International Olympic Committee [recently] unveiled updated plans for holding the Summer Games in Japan, meticulous “playbooks” that promise to ...
Endometriosis falls into the abyss of ‘women’s diseases’: Here’s what a pioneering bioengineer is designing to redress that
Dr. [Linda] Griffith founded the [Gynepathology Research] lab in 2009 with the goal of helping researchers solve endometriosis, a chronic ...
How long do vaccines provide COVID protection? Data coming into focus and it’s promising news
Exactly how long does a COVID-19 vaccine last? More information exists about Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines than the Johnson ...
After years of public and regulatory resistance in the US, first batch of mosquitoes genetically engineered to end Zika, dengue and other transmittable diseases are released
After a decade of fighting for regulatory approval and public acceptance, a biotechnology firm has released genetically engineered mosquitoes into ...
Can ‘remarkable’ mRNA technology used to develop Moderna and Pfizer COVID vaccines combat other diseases?
Harry Al-Wassiti, a bioengineer from Monash University, has been working with mRNA technology for several years, and he describes the ...
Home cure for COVID? Pfizer testing a pill that offers promise
At two anonymous Pfizer buildings, one in the U.S. and one in Belgium, a remarkable experiment is under way. Up ...
Viewpoint: ‘It is high time Indian farming transforms into precision agriculture by using modern tools of biotechnology’
The potential of genetic engineering is immense, with gene editing opening up the possibility of cures to hereditary diseases. Similarly, ...
Biden administration supports easing patent rights on COVID vaccines in effort to accelerate global distribution, breaking from European Union
The Biden administration, in a major decision [May 5], said it would support easing patent rules on Covid-19 vaccines after ...
Video: ‘The palette of modern therapeutics’ — mRNA and the COVID vaccines explained
Rather than tinkering with the virus or its parts, [mRNA vaccine technology] harnesses the “beauty of our biology” to deliver ...
Subtle shift in the causes and treatment of cancer in the US underway
At first glance, it appears that little will change between now and 2040 when it comes to the types of ...
Viewpoint: Republican war against ‘cancel culture’ moves from targeting Dr. Seuss to transgender children, claim LQBTQ activists
What does a wave of legislation targeting transgender children in state houses across the country have in common with the ...
Unwitting COVID carriers: 20-college study trying to answer when it will be safe to go maskless
All three authorized vaccines in the United States offer recipients robust protection against illness, particularly the worst cases. But how ...
Viewpoint: Herpes linked to COVID vaccine? Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post descends into conspiracy mongering
Lately, the New York Post seems to be on a mission to scare as many people as possible out of ...
Malaria vaccine? Burkina Faso trial shows Oxford shot is up to 77% effective
The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine ...
Is the CDC’s ultra-cautious approach to relaxing masking and distancing guidelines feeding vaccine hesitancy?
[The CDC said April 27 that] fully vaccinated people can unmask at small outdoor gatherings or when dining outside with ...
‘Messy trials, manufacturing nightmares, and political and economic rivalry’: Behind the scenes at the AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine blunders
The story of the vaccine that AstraZeneca developed with the University of Oxford is marked by noble intentions, communication blunders, ...
Viewpoint: Fox News provides platform for pandemic conspiracy promoter Naomi Wolf after previously mocking her ‘leftist’ views
The feminist writer Naomi Wolf garnered fame during the 1990s for her book The Beauty Myth and her work as ...
Viewpoint: Anti-biotechnology groups lining up against proposal that USDA take over regulation of genetically engineered animals, claiming ‘unknown dangers’
A potential shift in regulatory authority and oversight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the USDA over genetically ...
Modifying plants is harmful in crops and food but not to fight COVID? Tobacco plant-derived vaccine under evaluation for approval in Canada
Medicago is a pioneer of plant-derived therapeutics. Its tech takes the idea of traditional vaccine manufacturing – based on using ...
Viewpoint — Conservative evangelicals and disinformation: Conspiracy theories spreading almost as fast as COVID in rightwing strongholds
White evangelical Christians make up about 41 million people, according to the Pew Research Center — and they are one ...
Viewpoint: Countries that resist genetically engineered crops because of ‘distrust of technology’ and misplaced health and environmental fears will be left behind
As the share of genetically engineered crops produced internationally continues to grow, countries resistant to approve the technology face market ...
Why are Artificial Intelligence (AI) robots and voices almost all women? And what does that say about our culture?
With the proliferation of female robots such as Sophia and the popularity of female virtual assistants such as Siri (Apple), Alexa ...
‘Be Eggceptional. Help a family’s dream come true. Become an egg donor today’: Ads seeking egg donors target Ivy League, mostly white students. Is that ethical?
The quarter sheet of thin paper featured a woman’s silhouette, leaping with open arms over an explosion of rainbow-hued long-tailed ...
Cancer and HIV vaccines next? mRNA technology behind Moderna and Pfizer COVID shots could lead to vaccines for numerous difficult-to-treat diseases
Following effective clinical trial results and millions of successful vaccinations with mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, researchers now are looking into how ...
Viewpoint: Facebook and fake news — How the social media giant has emerged as the perfect platform for vaccine misinformation
You’d think during the worst pandemic in a century virtually everyone would be desperate to get their hands on a ...
Carrot or stick? After offering incentives for staff to get vaccinated, Houston Methodist becomes first US hospital to require shots — or face termination
The [Houston Methodist] hospital system is requiring that all of its workers get their shots by June 7, making it ...
