Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
What is leucovorin, the drug RFK, Jr. and Dr. Oz claim could arrest autism?
In a Sept. 22 press conference, the Trump Administration introduced what it says is an “exciting treatment” for autism: leucovorin, ...
Can gene editing be a game-changer in improving crop resilience and sustainability?
A Mexico-based research centre believes it may have hit the bull’s eye when it comes to using technology to enhance ...
Viewpoint: ‘An entire ecosystem of antiscience has taken hold and turned deadly’
The ideologically-motivated assault on science threatens us all. Climate change is generating devastating heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods and superstorms. ...
How AI is rewriting the book on food and farming sustainability
The food production process begins on the farm, where AI technologies are helping farmers make smarter decisions. Precision agriculture, powered ...
Chemophobic misinformation: 40% of Europeans say they ‘want to live in a world where chemicals don’t exist’
Chemophobia—an excessive fear of chemicals—is everywhere today, particularly for food. It manifests itself in fads like “clean” eating, avoiding ingredients ...
CRISPR pitless cherries are on the horizon
Seedless fruit is easy to take for granted, until you find yourself eating grapes with crunchy bits and watermelons that ...
New AI tool can predict each person’s risk for more than 1,000 diseases
Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence tool that can predict your personal risk of more than 1,000 diseases, and ...
Biotechnology is pushing the limits of beauty products
From fungi-derived ingredients to lab-grown collagen stimulators, biotechnology is rewriting the rules of what beauty products can achieve. At its core, ...
Nation’s most liberal court rejects plaintiff expert’s claims that glyphosate caused couple’s cancer
Although the US Supreme Court frequently overrules it, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering California, eight other western states ...
‘Praying to God for help’: With agricultural policy in disarray, Trump-voting farmers stumble through a catastrophic year
When speaking about his tariffs in March, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "To the Great Farmers of the United States: ...
New KFF-Washington Post survey explores parents’ trust in, and confusion about, childhood vaccines as the Trump administration revamps federal policies
The poll comes as the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to question the ...
Autism link debunked: Scientists challenge Trump and RFK, Jr. claim that pregnant women with high fevers should not take acetaminophen (aka paracetamol and Tylenol)
Scientists comment on reports that the Trump Administration will link paracetamol (Tylenol) use to autism in children. Prof Ian Douglas, ...
RFK, Jr. vs. the vaccine health establishment. Who’s right?
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has had a busy few months. He fired the director of ...
7 ways biotechnology can mitigate climate change challenges
As the world grapples with escalating climate change, the impacts on agriculture have become acute and inescapable. In 2025, rising temperatures, erratic ...
Even biodegradable plastic is stressing plants
Micro- and nanoplastics cause stress to crops such as lettuce and carrots, PhD candidate Laura Julia Zantis found. This can ...
Misinformation alert: No, glyphosate use in Canadian forests is not spurring more wildfires
Quebec province does not allow the industrial weed killer glyphosate to be sprayed on its forests, but there is no ...
On the cusp of dramatic advances in cancer treatments, Trump sharply curtails publicly-funded research
When America declared war on cancer more than 50 years ago, there was a misguided assumption outside the scientific community that ...
CRISPR breakthrough that can remove the chromosome responsible for Down syndrome raises ethical questions
In Feb. 2025, researchers from Mie University in Japan developed a method for removing the third copy of chromosome 21, the structure ...
How the agriculture and food industries challenged MAHA heavyweights and reshaped RFK, Jr.’s ‘reform’ agenda
In meeting after meeting at the White House this summer, administration officials held talks with scores of leaders from the ...
What does decision-making in the brain look like?
Neuroscientists from around the world have worked in parallel to map, for the first time, the entire brain activity of mice ...
Scientists discover hidden brain protein, potentially leading to treating Alzheimer’s before symptoms even appear
Drugs developed to reduce levels of a protein found at high levels in Alzheimer’s patients could lead to treatments aimed ...
While chronic illness mortality has declined globally, progress stalls in the U.S.
A new global study shows that deaths from such “noncommunicable” conditions have been declining in most countries — but the ...
As temperatures climb, so does America’s sugar cravings
Pan He, an environmental scientist at Cardiff University in Wales, hit on the idea to look at ... how rising ...
Genes take a back seat as culture drives human evolution forward
Researchers at the University of Maine are theorizing that human beings may be in the midst of a major evolutionary ...
Lawsuits and misinformation have led to replacing safe glyphosate with far more problematic pre-1974 weed killing formulations
The herbicides in the quiver when Roundup came to market in 1974 were things like Diquat, Paraquat, 2,4-D, and Dicamba ...
Lab grown meat and other cellular agricultural products face environmental challenges
“Cellular agriculture has the potential to be more sustainable in areas such as water recycling and renewable energy use, if ...
Rewilding of former farmlands is increasing. What are the sustainability benefits?
Reaching "peak agricultural land" does not mean the problem of deforestation is solved. Growing demand for products like beef, soy, ...
