Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
Synthetic biology: Mutating the meaning of life? Some critics think ‘yes’
Critics of synthetic biology have long said that the practice should be known as “playing God” and argue that the ...
Monsanto’s defense: The safety of GM crops: The case of Africa
We’re often criticized for supposedly ignoring studies that say genetically modified (GM) crops have safety or performance issues. The fact ...
Scientific journal launches controversial synthetic biology collection
Today PLOS ONE is happy to announce the launch of the Synthetic Biology Collection, including over 50 papers published in ...
Canada ready to unveil plan to ease trade of genetically modified foods
Canada is set to unveil to the world its proposal to permit traces of unapproved genetically modified organisms in imported ...
Turkey: Food Association withdraws application to import GM foods
The Federation of Food and Drink Industry Associations of Turkey (TGDF) announced that it has withdrawn an application to import ...
Ethical implications of genetic screening: How far can we go?
Julian Savulescu, a professor of ethics at Oxford, has argued that we should be free to design our children's personality ...
Genetically modified rice a good vitamin A source
Genetically modified rice could be a good source of vitamin A for children in countries where deficiency in the vitamin ...
NIH funds gene therapy using ultrasound
NIH awarded researchers at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) a $1.7 million grant over four years to progress development of a ...
Celebrities may be easy clone — through their diets
Mix a cup of whisky and the occasional chocolate bar with brewer’s yeast and let fester. In a few weeks, ...
Farmers turn to engineered corn to adapt to drought. But will it be enough?
Out in western Kansas, the corn looks unsalvageable. The landscape is rife with curled brown leaves, an unmistakable sign of ...
California labeling initiative: Anti-GM activist compares the food industry to tobacco industry
As the California labeling act gets closer to election day, proponents of both sides are coming out of the woodwork ...
Researchers identify a novel double-stranded DNA structure
Scientists have been proposing a novel form of double-stranded DNA structure since 1996. Referred to as 'S-DNA', it is produced ...
Monsanto’s genetically modified sweet corn sparks debate
Protesters of genetically modified food were outraged in early August when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. confirmed that the company plans to ...
As prices for prenatal genome sequencing tests fall, some worry about consequences for families in a real-life ‘Gattaca’
If you could know your unborn child's entire genetic makeup, would you want to? Researchers believe that tests that detail ...
Could genetically modified seeds be a drought solution?
Could genetically modified seeds be a drought solution? While farmers across the country struggle with the worst drought in 50 ...
Mitochondrial DNA may hold answer to why women live longer than men
Scientists working on fruit flies say their work provides an answer to the question of why women tend to live ...
Key West, Florida, says NO to genetically engineered mosquitoes
Dengue Fever afflicts millions of people around the world. It is a virus that is spread by a specific mosquito, ...
Scottish people’s DNA study could ‘rewrite nation’s history’
A large scale study of Scottish people's DNA is threatening to "rewrite the nation's history", according to author Alistair Moffat ...
Behind the hype on stem cells
There's a lot of hype about the potential for stem cells to revolutionise medicine, but the race to innovation shouldn't ...
23andMe makes music from your DNA
Most people don’t go around all day and wonder what secrets might be hidden in their genes. Personal genomics startup ...
Newton’s Law: If an apple hits you on the head it can rewire your genetic circuitry, creating a savant
Getting smacked in the head is no picnic, as most football players, hockey players, and boxers would attest. Debilitating side ...
Scientists use light to ‘tag and track’ genetic processes
In a new study, UT Dallas researchers outline how they used fluorescent molecules to "tag" DNA and monitor a process ...
Gene discovery could improve treatment for acute myeloid leukemia
Scientists have made a discovery involving mice and humans that could mean that people with acute myeloid leukemia, a usually ...
India: Bar GM food crops, says parliamentary panel
In a major setback to the proponents of genetically modified technology in farm crops, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture on ...
Controversy over scientists plan to map and make public extended family’s genome
Not as many people around the world cared about the genes of Manuel Corpas and his family as he had ...
India: Greens call for halt to field trials of GM food crops
Environmentalists have called for stopping all field trials of genetically (GM) modified crops and a wider public debate on the ...
Frozen human embryos yield viable stem cells biomedical research
Even after being frozen for 18 years, human embryos can be thawed, grown in the laboratory, and successfully induced to ...
