Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
Viewpoint: Here’s why RFK, Jr.’s recommendation to substitute animal fats for vegetable alternatives is bad for your health
'Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidised seed oils,' ...
‘Truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary’—CDC’s top vaccine scientist eviscerates RFK, Jr. in forced resignation letter
Peter Marks, the top Food and Drug Administration official who oversaw vaccines, gene therapies, and the blood supply, resigned [March ...
Sticky pesticides: Farmers don’t like using pesticides anymore than we like traces of them on our food. Here’s a smart way forward
It's easy for Greenpeace employees in cities to talk about farming but in the real world, without pesticides we'd lose ...
USAID cuts gut access to lifesaving vaccinations for millions of people in the world’s poorest countries
The United States is planning to terminate more than $1 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an international ...
Viewpoint: Why more native Africans should be included in archaeological research projects across the continent
“A lot of the evidence that comes out of Africa informs us about our origins,” says [palaeoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie]. He ...
Trump, RFK, Jr. abruptly cancel $12 billion targeting measles clinics, mental health services and addiction treatments
The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that ...
Viewpoint: How could DOGE and RFK, Jr.-ordered FDA cuts impact food safety?
At the Food and Drug Administration, freezes on government credit card spending ordered by the Trump administration have impeded staff ...
Consumer resistance to technology tweaking food: Brits remain skeptical about cell-based meats
[A] minority (16-41%) of people in the UK are willing to consume cell-cultivated meat [according to the UK Food Standards ...
AI poised to revolutionize farming. Here’s how
In agriculture, AI is already helping farmers to monitor crop health, tailor the delivery of inputs, and make harvesting more ...
Viewpoint: Texas is a measles superspreader: With anti-vaccination ideology surging, the state is exporting the pandemic crisis to the rest of the US and the world
Measles, a highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, has made a resurgence in West ...
Treasure map of genetic secrets—Bigger and more flavorful eggplants and tomatoes on the horizon
Bigger and more flavorful tomatoes and eggplants may soon become a reality, thanks to a team of scientists at Johns Hopkins ...
Here is an illustration of a face of the earliest modern humans to migrate from Africa to Europe
A new study published [December 12, 2024] in Nature analyzed the nuclear genomes of the thirteen specimens from Ranis [in ...
Lazarus plants: ‘Zombie’ plants that spring back to life hold keys to developing technologies to adapt agriculture to climate change.
To protect crops from rising droughts, scientists are looking to the genes of a small group of plants that can ...
Viewpoint: Why you should read science headlines with caution
The strong correlation between flashiness and wrongness comes from several factors. First, much, if not most, scientific research is wrong. That’s why ...
To evaluate non-existent links of vaccines to autism, RFK, Jr. taps activist who faked being a doctor, published “research”—later retracted—claiming a ‘vaccine-autism’ link and administered ineffective drugs to children to “cure” autism
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct [a critical study with a goal of ...
Ageing and diet: In a study one food plan actually appears to provide some unique benefits
A new 30-year study of eight popular diets has identified the one most likely to keep you healthiest into your ...
Luxury, medicine and life itself sprout from petri dishes—and not just meats
Lab-grown diamonds offer an ethical, sustainable alternative to mined diamonds. ... Additionally, lab-grown diamonds are more affordable, typically costing 40% ...
As the Trump administration withdraws support for biotechnology innovation pushed by former president Biden, Europe is poised to seize the initiative
The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has revoked Executive Order 14081, "Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, ...
Korean Muslim group becomes latest religious organization to issue a Fatwa approving cultivated meat as Halal
Cultivated meat can be considered Halal and consumed by Muslims, provided they’re sourced and produced in accordance with Halal standards, ...
‘Probiotics is a waste of money’: Scientists push back against Dr. Oz claims that the supplements he promotes provide health benefits
Our bodies—and guts, specifically—depend on a balance of bacteria to “maintain healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels,” but “you gotta ...
5 actions the Trump administration could and should take (but probably won’t) to contain bird flu
First, vaccinating poultry is critical to preventing flock outbreaks and must be a cornerstone of the nation’s avian influenza prevention ...
Infant amnesia: Brain scans provide clues about why we can’t recall our earliest years
"[W]e have memories from what happened earlier today and memories from what happened earlier last week and even from a ...
Women have long been encouraged to monitor their nutrition during pregnancy. Men need to watch their food intake too—but before conception
For decades, fertility research has focused on maternal health, but groundbreaking new research is shifting the conversation. A growing body ...
Viewpoint: Weaponizing ‘informed consent’ — Here is how Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is undermining support for vaccinations … and it’s going to get a lost worse
There are a lot of ostensibly “pro-vaccine” physicians out there who, because they like how RFK Jr. includes an emphasis ...
Viewpoint: Anatomy of the activist environmental group-tort lawyer alliance—latest target is a safe chemical in use for half a millennium
Claims about occupational hazards, chemicals correlated to disease, occur every week, from non-stick spatulas to flame-retardant couches, and the group ...
How did humans get so brainy? Advanced intelligence likely came from a lineage that split off for more than a millenium and then reconnected
The ancestors of all modern humans split off from a mystery population 1.5 million years ago and then reconnected with ...
Viewpoint: Trump’s tariffs are squeezing American farmers. We are still in wait-and-see territory but tensions are building
The trade war hit my farm and greenhouse business here in northwest Missouri on March 4. The first email I ...
