Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
How Monsanto is like Microsoft
The following is an excerpt. Monsanto’s products have a lot in common with products from companies like Microsoft and Universal ...
Genes are not esoteric knowledge
The following is an edited excerpt. Over at Slate the advice columnist received an email from a man who found out that his wife ...
DNA number-crunchers use homegrown software
The following is an edited excerpt. Today, multiple startups — including DNAnexus and Spiral Genetics — are taking the genomics ...
Designing life: The ethics of engineering babies
The following is an excerpt. The increasing power and accessibility of genetic technology may one day give parents the option of modifying ...
‘Language gene’ more active in young girls
The following is an excerpt. Despite recent progress toward sexual equality, it's still a man's world in many ways. But ...
Predicting evolution in bacteria
The following is an excerpt. A new study found that similar, or even identical, mutations can occur during diversification in ...
Monsanto sues farmer for exploiting loophole in GMO licensing
The following is an excerpt. WASHINGTON — Vernon Hugh Bowman, a free-market capitalist and Indiana farmer, exploited a loophole in ...
DNA test for rare disorders becomes more routine
The following is an excerpt. A new kind of testing is proving particularly helpful in diagnosing mysterious neurological illnesses in ...
The bank where doctors can stash your genome
The following is an excerpt. Genomic sequencing might be more common in medicine if doctors had a simple way to ...
DNA tests reveal horse meat in some Nestle products
The following is an excerpt. Nestle, the world's biggest food company, has removed beef pasta meals from sale in Italy and ...
Stem cell-based bioartificial tissues and organs
The following is an excerpt. Surgeon Paolo Macchiarini has made his name by successfully transplanting bioengineered stem cell-based trachea, composed ...
Vanessa Williams ancestry traced through mail-order DNA test
The following is an excerpt. The project that first sequenced a human genome in 2000 took 15 years and cost ...
Genetically modified crops are overregulated, says food science expert
The following is an excerpt. The overregulation of genetically modified crops is a response not to scientific evidence, but to ...
Bomb threat rattles Mexican biotechnology lab
The following is an excerpt. A letter containing explosive material was delivered on 11 February to the Institute of Biotechnology of the ...
Be skeptical of Washington’s Initiative 522 on GMO labeling
The following is an edited excerpt. Consumers absolutely have a right to know what they are eating is safe, but ...
Namibians eat unapproved GM maize products
Maize meal sold in some shops in Namibia is derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), a recent test has revealed ...
Searching for genius in the genes
Scientists have been able to isolate some genes connected to lower IQ, but the genes which help create high intelligence ...
FDA approves bionic eye for adults with rare genetic disease
The following is an excerpt. For most of us, light-sensitive cells that line our retinas convert light rays into electrical ...
Combat gene may be indicator of future PTSD
The following is an excerpt. Study findings released on Wednesday by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) suggest that a previously described ...
Anthropologist: An understanding of culture would lead to less genetic blame
The following is an excerpt. Why is the world so full of "morons" and "degenerates" and what, if anything, can ...
Humans and chimps use genetic variation to combat pathogens
The following is an excerpt. A new genome-wide analysis, led by the University of Chicago Medical Center, searched for evidence of long-lived ...
Napoleon Chagnon on the DNA of violence: Do killers have more kids?
In a review of controversial anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon's memoir "Noble Savages", Charles Mann explores the uncomfortable biological realities of human ...
Value of modified corn is more in reducing losses than boosting yields
The following is an excerpt. While there's no end of robust and heated conversation about genetically modified foods, there are ...
GMO labeling initiatives: Prop 37 v. I-522
The Biofortified blog takes an in-depth look at the Washington State initiative to label GMOs ...
Is it a crime to plant a seed?
The following is an excerpt. Vernon “Hugh” Bowman, a 75-year-old farmer from rural Indiana, did something that got him sued ...
Western monopoly hinders sound policies on GM foods across Africa
The following is an excerpt. Genetically modified foods are a viable solution for struggling African countries if Western monopolies are ...
Will GM tech save coffee in the face of climate change?
The following is an excerpt. Some hysterical types are worried that because the industry has focused on one particular genetically ...
