Conversation
Looking at the hard evidence on GM cotton and farmer suicide in India
Most of the cotton grown in India comes from GM seeds, referred to as Bt cotton having had the addition ...
Three-person IVF has nothing to do with eugenics, but let’s talk about it anyhow
Parents in the UK look set to become the first in the world to use a radical IVF technique that ...
Latest on the latest anti-GMO scare: Dangerous plant GMO is in your blood
The truth is that there may or may not be plant DNA in your blood. The single research paper making ...
Genetic switch controls muscles aging
It is a sad fact that old age brings diseases. Many may not be life-threatening, but they make life less ...
Genes linked to feeling full may play a role in genetic obesity
A genetic predisposition to weight gain and obesity in later life can in part be explained by a lack of ...
Genetic drawbacks of having a manly face
Studying sex differences seldom gets boring. The Darwinian process of sexual selection, in which genes that improve an individual’s reproductive ...
The complex and confusing genetics of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is even more complex than already believed, with rare gene mutations contributing to the disorder. In two studies published ...
Genetics behind schizophrenia just got more complex
An international team of researchers has found that the cause of schizophrenia is more complex than already believed, with rare ...
What will the $1,000 genome mean?
Sydney’s Garvan Institute is promoting its acquisition of an Illumina machine which it says can sequence the whole human genome ...
UK Guardian botched ‘suicide gene’ story: ‘Terminator seeds’ will not usher in agricultural judgment day
UK Guardian botched its story on "terminator" seeds in Brazil, fanning misconceptions, undermining vaccine and drug research ...
What is heritability anyhow?
Schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and autism have all had recent attention for being “genetically caused." In scientific research, being genetically ...
Is eating DNA safe? Of course.
Eating DNA sounds scary but it’s completely safe. I do it every day. Let me explain. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic ...
Computer scientists to thank for easy access to genetic testing
Frederick Sanger, who died recently at the age of 95, won two Nobel prizes in chemistry for his methods for ...
One step closer to understanding cancer cells’ rapid reproductive rate
You were formed from a single cell. To build you, and then keep you alive, the DNA in your cells ...
Outcry over Australian prenatal screening for autism
The internet was ablaze last week with the news that health authorities in Western Australia (WA) have given approval for ...
How glow-in-the-dark jellyfish revolutionized plant biology
In the 1960s, scientists discovered a jellyfish that could emit its own light. 30 years later, this bioluminescence has changed ...
For Myriad Genetics, the gene patent fight isn’t over yet
Whether sequences of genetic material can be patented has been a matter of heated debate for the past decade or ...
No Nobel, but epigenetics finally gets the recognition it deserves
Adrian Bird, Howard Cedar and Aharon Razin were hotly tipped to win this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine for their ...
Personal values not science drive views on GM foods
Because individual values dictate the attitudes with which we approach GM food, scientists should frame their messages to align with ...
Why GMO science may be rejected
You’d be forgiven for thinking science is under attack. Climate science has been challenged by deniers and sceptics, vaccination rates ...
Righteous condemnation of ‘anti-science’ bias won’t change minds of GMO critics
The ABC recently reported that 400 people in the Philippines trampled vitamin-enriched “golden rice” trial crops because of fears to human health ...
Campaigns against vaccination, GMOs reflect similar biases
The backlash against GMOs reflects a broader anti-science sentiment which delays important emerging technologies ...
We shouldn’t use just one approach to study genetics of obesity
Researchers have found many common gene sequence variants linked to obesity, but, so far, these only account for about 5% ...
Mammoth cloning: Big animal, big ethical concerns
Theoretically, mammoths could be cloned by recovering, reconstructing or synthesizing viable mammoth DNA but some object to “deep” human intervention ...
Methods for cloning mammoths, from the creator of Dolly the sheep
It is unlikely that a mammoth could be cloned in the way we created Dolly the sheep, as has been ...
Biotech ups food production, won’t feed world alone
Biotech's focus on increasing food production ignores the fact that mass hunger exists alongside a huge surplus ...
We’re carrying evolution’s excess baggage – why can’t we let go?
The following is an excerpt. For 150 years or so, biologists have studied the human body for the vestiges of ...
DNA folding patterns control gene expression
A decade after sequencing the human genome, it's time to tackle the folding of a human’s entire suite of DNA ...
