Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
From reassurance to rollbacks, RFK Jr.’s first months on vaccine policy
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised before his confirmation that he would not take away Americans’ vaccines. But ...
Genetic engineering is deeply woven into every aspect of modern life
For years, politicians and environmental organizations have been needlessly stoking fears about a technology that has been helping to conserve ...
3D printer turns rotting food scraps into household items
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have unveiled a groundbreaking innovation: a 3D printer that transforms food scraps ...
Viewpoint: If 23andMe has your DNA, don’t panic, your privacy is not in danger
As word spread last year that 23andMe was about to go bankrupt, many of their millions of customers wondered if ...
Viewpoint: What role can indigenous populations and agroecology play in promoting sustainable food
For millennia, Indigenous peoples have cultivated diverse, adaptive and evolving food systems, rooted in deep relationships with land, water and ...
CRISPR takes on the challenge of rare genetic diseases
Rare genetic diseases are challenging for patients and their families—made all the more overwhelming because symptoms tend to appear soon ...
Kennedy poised to dismantle U.S.-supported system of evidence-based medicine and mental health wellness
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent takeover of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee was alarming enough. Now ...
When does aging begin to accelerate? Earlier than most people think
A groundbreaking new study has revealed that your body doesn’t age in a straight line. Instead, it hits a sudden ...
Confronting the growing challenge of increased plastic pollution in agriculture
Over the past decades, plastic has become an integral part of agriculture and this use is increasing with the intensity ...
Florida E. coli outbreak linked to raw milk
Raw milk has been linked to an ongoing E. coli and campylobacter outbreak in Florida that has already sickened 21 ...
Can gene editing dramatically reduce global hunger?
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals with Goal 2 (SDG 2): Zero Hunger, aiming to ...
Rfk, Jr. guts U.S. support for mRNA vaccines that target bird flu, human flu and coronaviruses, falsely claiming they are dangerous despite decades of safe use
The US is making swingeing mRNA development cuts, hugely deprioritising a Nobel Prize-winning field of research widely lauded for its ...
Potato, tomato: Today’s French fries linked by evolution to tomatoes 9 million years ago
Ketchup and fries make a tasty pair. But the connection between tomatoes and potatoes may go beyond making a good ...
Why gene editing of food crops remains controversial
Gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9 have many uses in the area of food and agriculture. They can combat persistent drought ...
Keeping your brain young and slowing cognitive decline as you age
Scientists have unveiled the strongest evidence yet that a combination of diet, exercise and brain training can improve thinking and ...
Rating the top 70+ AI tools from best to worst
This guide is the result of hundreds of hours spent signing up, testing features, running real workflows, and figuring out ...
Viewpoint: As Earth’s temperatures reach record and accelerating highs, EPA rejects the science
“There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.” Those two ...
Politics of agriculture? Large southern farms expect to benefit from $258 million in Trump subsidies but others face grimmer future
In the high plains of western Texas, 600 or so farms in Gaines County are projected to receive an additional ...
7 year study of the effects of GMO corn on primates shows what every other study has found: ‘No significant health risks’
A study spanning more than seven years has found no significant health risks associated with the long-term consumption of genetically modified (GM) maize in ...
The confluence of AI and biotechnology will drive the development of unprecedented sustainable crops
A major review published in the prestigious journal Nature today outlines how artificial intelligence and biotechnology could transform global crop production — ...
‘Doing your own research’ using AI? Watch out for hallucinations, delusions and misinformation
As a result of such immersive interactions with AI chatbots, many people are said to have “lost jobs, destroyed marriages ...
Some early ancient humans were cannibals and ate children
Archaeologists discovered new evidence of cannibalism among early human ancestors at the Gran Dolina cave site in northern Spain. The ...
Directed evolution: We can now speed up evolution inside human cells by decades
Inspired by the generative abilities of AI, directed evolution, a biological system that works much like machine learning, can actually be ...
Agroecological farming is not financially sustainable and will need substantial government subsidies
A new study by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) has suggested that while nature-friendly farming methods improve ...
Can gene editing eliminate Down syndrome? Scientists have done it in lab-grown cells
Could Down syndrome one day be corrected at the cellular level? Japanese scientists may have taken an extraordinary step toward ...
Viewpoint: France’s scientifically backward view on an alleged bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticide will ensure serious destruction of leafy vegetables and fruits
France is a blessed country. After having counted 68 million doctors during the Covid crisis, then 68 million athletes during ...
Viewpoint: A skeptical view of the still far-fetched idea of human cloning
At least 25 species have now been cloned, and variants on the technology are still being developed: The recent “de-extinction” of ...
