Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
Iran uses nuclear technology to produce drought-resistant rice
This rice variety was obtained through targeted mutagenesis methods and originated from the popular local native variety Tarom. Key features ...
FaceAge AI uses snapshots to predict biological age and help oncologists tailor treatments
A new artificial intelligence tool developed by researchers at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School uses a snapshot of a patient’s face to ...
Viewpoint: ‘I’m a mom and a farmer. Here’s why it’s safe to use pesticides
In addition to the title of mom, I also have the title of farmer, giving me firsthand experiences and understanding ...
Climate change challenge: How to ‘future proof’ crops
In a review in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Stephen Long, a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology at ...
RFK, Jr. guts Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panel, plays sleight-of-hand with promise to Senate
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on [June 9] removed all 17 members of the expert panel that makes vaccine ...
Learning about the brain: It’s less like a machine than a swarm of starlings
When we consider the highways traversing the brain and how signals establish behaviourally relevant relationships across the central nervous system, ...
Under its year old regulation, Canada has yet to approve a gene edited animal for human consumption. U.S. approved pig is a test
The approval in the United States for food use of pigs gene edited to resist Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, ...
Viewpoint and book review: Egg donation is not only commodified — it is also racialized
A recent journalistic investigation of the global [human] egg trade at Bloomberg put the industry’s unregulated practices and their exploitative implications ...
AI can read plant DNA. That could transform agriculture and help feed the world
Plant DNA has become a frontier for artificial intelligence, with large language models turning genetic sequences into interpretable content for ...
Bioterrorism experts not buying Trump’s FBI administration claims that Chinese students smuggled in fungus for a bioweapon
Fungus already widespread in U.S., poses little food safety risk, experts say Experts say it would be ineffective as agricultural ...
With the Trump administration’s dismantling of the NIH, the Human Genome Project records are poised to be inaccessible
The archival records [at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which is one of the 27 agencies comprising the NIH] … are ...
Precise ‘genetic tailoring’ of plant genomes addresses critical challenges in food security and sustainability
Simplifying the complexity of genome editing is essential to prevent misunderstandings and counter misinformation propagated by certain interest groups that ...
How worried should you be about the health effects of microplastics?
Animal studies indicate that microplastics may harm reproduction, particularly sperm quality. They can also affect lung and gut functioning and ...
Viewpoint: What would be the consequences if we moved from conventional, tech-advanced farming to organic?
Close your eyes and imagine grocery stores where produce costs triple, with a sparse selection and visible insect damage. This ...
Viewpoint: The Trump administration’s conspiratorial view of COVID endangers U.S. disease research
Disease cure research in the United States—for cancer, for Alzheimer's disease, even for pediatric heart defects—has been stopped. Graduate school ...
Gene editing holds the potential of suppressing mosquito species that carry deadly diseases — and raises ethical concerns
[S]ome doctors and scientists say it is time to take the extraordinary step of unleashing gene editing to suppress mosquitoes ...
Investigation: TikTok is awash with misleading and potentially dangerous health information
More than half of all the top trending videos offering mental health advice on TikTok contain misinformation, a Guardian investigation ...
Viewpoint: Battles erupt among Republicans over food and pesticides
Some in the Republican Party say they’re worried about farmers in their districts who rely on pesticides. And there are ...
India’s new gene-edited sheep increases muscle mass by 30%
The Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Kashmir) has successfully produced a gene-edited sheep, setting a new benchmark in ...
Viewpoint: Why agriculture should not be politicized
[A]ttaching a political label to [agriculture] means we lose the opportunity to have meaningful connections and conversations based on fact ...
CRISPR wonder: First gene-edited spider spins red fluorescent silk
Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have recently successfully bred the world’s first CRISPR-Cas9-modified spider to produce red fluorescent silk ...
Viewpoint: ‘It’s impossible to separate MAHA from MAGA: Why the promised health revolution will mostly serve the privileged
[H]ow is a movement that’s simultaneously about individual responsibility and corporate oversight going to accomplish anything in the most deregulatory ...
Vaccines are under fire, accused of not being tested against a placebo. That’s wrong. Here’s how they are tested for safety
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to require all new vaccines be tested against a placebo ...
Viewpoint: ‘Could’, ‘hazardous’ and ‘linked’—Bad science reporting uses RFK, Jr.’s favorite words
From Wi-Fi causing "leaky brain" to the herbicide atrazine turning male frogs female, the myriad of crackpot concepts Kennedy spews ...
Poll: Few voters concerned about pesticide use in agriculture
Fifty-seven percent of national voters agreed that farmer control over weeds, diseases and pests on crops keeps food affordable, according ...
60% of imported bananas go bad. How non-browning gene edited varieties will help reduce waste
It is estimated that a third of the produce that is harvested worldwide is never consumed and goes to waste ...
As laws restricting transexuals proliferate, here’s where state laws stand in 2025
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is tracking 575 anti-LGBTQ+ state bills so far this year, most of which target ...
