Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
The microbiome–mind connection: Can faecal transplants treat depression?
Andrew Moseson experienced severe depression for many years. ... He struggled to find relief, nothing worked. ... Then, in the ...
$250 billion—that’s how much money AI is predicted to save farmers and producers, but the agricultural revolution it’s igniting won’t stop there
[The] food-manufacturing industry has a new AI tool for boosting productivity on farms and in factories: advanced large language models. With this type ...
Raspberries are one of the quickest fruits to spoil. That may soon change
One of our most popular summer soft fruits could last longer in the fridge thanks to pioneering new research conducted ...
Nigeria’s government pairing with scientists to convince a skeptical public of the virtues of agricultural biotechnology
The Federal Government has clarified that the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and their products in Nigeria is not ...
‘It’s like a throbbing pain that becomes quite unbearable’: What happens in the brain when a limb is amputated
Like many people who've had an amputation, [Emily] Wheldon often feels pain in her phantom arm and hand. "It's like ...
Steam technologists test a partial alternative to farm chemicals to control weeds
Recently a report published by the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) ... featured a field implement designed to be ...
Ultra-processed foods found to harm male fertility and metabolism, study shows
A small but rigorous new study found that eating ultra-processed foods caused otherwise healthy men to quickly gain body fat and led ...
Historians view Trump’s assault on science as page pulled from the autocrats’ playbook to secure more power
The war on science began four centuries ago when the Roman Catholic Church outlawed books that reimagined the heavens. Subsequent ...
‘Go wild’: Don’t expect a disengaged and science-ignorant president to contain RFK’ Jr.’s assault on science
Trump pledged that he’d empower Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “go wild" on health care. The president has kept his ...
How self fertilizing gene-edited wheat could be a boon for developing world farmers
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have developed wheat plants that stimulate the production of their own fertilizer, opening ...
Algorithms and addiction, teens sue Instagram over mental health harm
After they took too many pills, after their mother found them unconscious on their bedroom floor, after paramedics couldn't get ...
Speed breeding: AI pollinating CRISPR gene-edited flowers are in development
For millennia, developing resilient crops relied on pollination by nature or humans—making the process long and often costly. Now, scientists ...
Mining nuclear waste may power the future of nuclear power
Today’s nuclear power plants generate energy through a process called nuclear fission. ... This fission chain reaction provides a steady ...
‘Ruining the magic of breeding’? Cloning’s okay but gene-edited horses threaten to upend the pedigreed world of Polo
While Argentina, regarded as the global capital of polo, has long welcomed reproductive technologies – including cloning – to breed ...
25 years ago, India approved GMO rice and was poised to be the developing world’s crop bioengineering innovator. What went awry?
In the early 2000s, India’s fields promised to become laboratories of the future. When genetically modified (GM) cotton was approved ...
Why do some people gain weight more easily or develop liver problems while others don’t, even when they eat similar diets?
Our bodies follow a natural 24-hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm that influences everything from sleep to metabolism. While ...
Common wisdom: Westerners are overweight because they are not active enough. Study finds that’s not true
For decades, common wisdom and public health messaging have assumed that people in highly developed nations, like the United States, ...
Trump shutdown of LGBTQ+ suicide hotline sparks panic in many states
On July 17, the option shut down for LGBTQ+ youth to access specialized mental health support from the national 988 ...
‘A historic failure’: MIT management professor who falsely claimed Covid shots were ineffective and deadly appointed head of CDC vaccine oversight
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory group has long had a work group in place to ...
The science skinny on synthetic food dyes: There is no evidence they are unsafe but they do make some unhealthy food more enticing
The appeal of a brightly colored candy, the vibrant hue of your mouthwash, the pigment of your sports drinks — ...
Just because a chemical ingredient used in food is found in household products or medicine does not mean its unsafe
"Many food-grade additives share names with industrial products, but concentration makes all the difference," said Jessica Steier, a public health ...
Is sunscreen bad for your health? MAHA and social media disinformation threatens a resurgence in skin cancer
Sunscreen protects the skin by either absorbing or reflecting ultraviolet rays that can cause sunburn, premature aging and skin cancer ...
Resilience, sufficiency, efficiency: Balancing the challenges facing modern agriculture
There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to the future of agriculture. Across Europe and beyond, the debate is ...
Viewpoint: Profiling Dr. David Geier, the anti-vax quack who is guiding RFK, Jr.’s vaccine policy
By Jessica SteierGraphics by Sara Chodosh and Taylor Maggiacomo Dr. Steier is a public health scientist who specializes in science ...
RFK, Jr. says ‘let measles run its course’. That’s what some said in 1990, and we had an urban health crisis
Few expected a major return of measles to the United States this year, a quarter-century after it was declared eliminated here. But return ...
Certain foods naturally contain chemicals that help us sleep better. Here are some of them
Research shows that the most beneficial diet for sleep seems to be a plant-based diet that includes lots of wholegrains, dairy ...
Viewpoint: Thirst for revenge—What Jay Bhattacharya has in common with Stalin’s crackpot science seer Trofim Denisovich Lysenko
An insecure and inept but ambitious scientist climbs out of obscurity up a ladder of political favor in a burgeoning ...
