Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
Opposition to genetic engineering is immoral
There’s an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished. That certainly seems to be true for many breakthroughs in ...
“Natural” food label means almost nothing
GoodFood WorldNaturally, food labeling issue lives onMonterey County HeraldThe campaign against genetically engineered foods didn't disappear with California's defeat of ...
Are we getting dumber?
It’s easy to think of history as a march of progress, with humans growing smarter and more capable over time ...
The mysterious genetics of homosexuality
[A] reasonable summary is that, when it comes to male homosexuality, there is almost certainly a direct influence, although probably ...
Cancer is NOT an evolutionary atavism
A while back, two physicists, Paul Davies and Charles Lineweaver, announced their explanation for cancer with a novel theory, which ...
“Fat and jolly” genetically linked
It used to be a stereotype that being fat meant you had a happy personality. Then culture went out of ...
Greenpeace will keep fighting GM
Greenpeace has vowed to continue campaigning against genetically modified (GM) crops in Australia, despite backlash from the farming and scientific ...
Reaction to USDA report splits along predictable lines
It held five meetings, waited until after the election, gained consensus among all but one of its members, sent off ...
Scientists in UK urge more agricultural R&D
Forecasts of a world population of 9 billion has prompted the publication on Friday of Feeding the Future, a report ...
Scientists in UK urge more agricultural R&D
Forecasts of a world population of 9 billion has prompted the publication on Friday of Feeding the Future, a report ...
New eugenics and the question of personal choice
Eugenics is back in the headlines. Our ability to examine and manipulate our genes is more advanced than ever. But ...
‘Your 23andMe results are ready’
Today, I Realised That I am Going to Die (at Some Point)Huffington Post UK (blog)Yesterday I received an email from ...
Will modern eugenics remain voluntary?
Eugenics, Voluntary and OtherwiseFirst Things (blog)The Chronicle of Higher Education last week published a rather odd article on the evolution ...
Cheap embryos and the ‘commodification of children’
Dr. Ernest Zeringue sharply cuts [IVF] costs by creating a single batch of embryos from one egg donor and one sperm ...
Scientists in UK urge more agricultural R&D
Forecasts of a world population of 9 billion has prompted the publication on Friday of Feeding the Future, a report ...
Eating “GMO-free” is a luxury
In this modern age of plenty, we no longer worry about what to eat. Now, we agonize over what not ...
Genetic modification can help solve global food crisis
The biggest impact investor in the world, Bill Gates, believes one of the solutions to world hunger is through the ...
“Food police” routed, food movement failing
As Americans tuck into their turkey and dressing on Thursday, they might add one little item to the list of ...
Genetic screening uncovers risky matches at the sperm bank
Genetic Screening Can Uncover Risky Matches at the Sperm BankMIT Technology Review (blog)Experts in assistive reproduction say the idea behind ...
Mexico takes a step toward allowing GM corn
As California voters were considering whether to require food with genetically modified ingredients to be labeled as such, the ongoing ...
Scientists in UK urge more agricultural R&D
Forecasts of a world population of 9 billion has prompted the publication on Friday of Feeding the Future, a report ...
Seeing a fetus’ future ills
Philadelphia InquirerSeeing a fetus' future illsPhiladelphia InquirerConsider that the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, took 13 years and cost ...
Harvard’s Richard Lewontin mangles population genetics review
Discover's blogger Razib Khan's dissects Harvard evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin's biologically troublesome take-down of two books on "Jewish genetics". Lewontin ...
Political leanings and Prop 37: Do they correlate?
San Francisco supported Proposition 37!Discover Magazine (blog)A few weeks ago I alluded to the controversy around proposition 37. This was ...
Anti-allergen milk has unforeseen dangers
Also due to the regulatory incompetence which, it seems, is having “a chilling effect on animal biotech efforts”, GM animal ...
Cancer can teach us about our own evolution
Cancer, it seems, is embedded in the basic machinery of life, a type of default state that can be triggered ...
Genetic screening and “toxic information”
The term “toxic knowledge” has been used to describe genetic information that individuals may regret learning, following a prenatal genetic ...
