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Anti-biotech activist Jeffrey Smith peddles pseudo-science
The following is an edited excerpt. When the definitive history of the GMO debate is written, Jeffrey Smith is going ...
Kloor blog deconstructs crop biotech labeling debate
The following is an edited excerpt. There are two camps that favor labeling genetically modified [GM] foods: 1) The “Right ...
Nature’s must-read issue on genetically modified organisms
Keith Kloor dissects and summarizes Nature magazine's special issue on genetically modified organisms ...
Why scientists and science advocates shouldn’t fight the GM-labeling movement
Ramez Naam, a GLP contributor, makes the argument that -- despite the scientific evidence for the safety of genetically modified ...
Why GMO supporters should embrace labels
The following is an excerpt. Keith Kloor has graciously given me the opportunity to guest post here again. So let ...
Grandma’s experiences leave a mark on your genes
The following is an excerpt. For over a hundred years, those two views — nature or nurture, biology or psychology ...
If GM crops provide more food, that’s a good thing, right?
The following is an excerpt. What drives opposition to genetically modified crops? Well, there are a bunch of enduring myths, ...
Don’t forget parents share genes with their offspring
The following is an excerpt. In 2002 I read The Blank Slate. With all due respect to Steven Pinker one of ...
Why a foolish instinct for love?
The following is an edited excerpt. I remember the specific moment when I was 13 that I became aware ...
An NYU panel debate on GMO labeling
The following is an edited excerpt. Last Thursday, the NYU Global Center for Academic & Spiritual Life, in conjunction with GMO ...
Anti-GMO attitudes on the left and right
The following is an excerpt. If you follow public debate on genetically modified foods, you know that Monsanto is routinely ...
Anti-GMO attitudes and political leanings
GMO opponents come from both ends of the political spectrum, but Kloor writes that denialist arguments are more likely to ...
The inevitability of eugenics as preventative health
The following is an edited excerpt. The real fundamental issue here is that genes are at least somewhat in the ...
Schizophrenia about genetics
The following is an edited excerpt. The genetics of schizophrenia is a fertile if fraught topic. But I won’t be discussing that ...
Pigmentation: the simplest of complex traits not so simple?
The following is an excerpt. One of the pitfalls about talking about genetics, especially human genetics, is that the public wants ...
GM bacteria produce valuable compounds
The following is an edited excerpt. When Michigan State University artist Adam Brown learned of a type of bacteria,Cupriavidus metallidurans, ...
When newspapers con the public
The following is an edited excerpt. Now let’s turn to the Guardian, and this video on genetically modified crops it recently posted on ...
A month without Monsanto?
The following is an edited excerpt. April Dávila, a writer for Yes! magazine, tired to see if she could go one month “without consuming any ...
GMO labeling is clever marketing
The following is an excerpt. I find it amusing that this whole GMO labeling campaign has been framed as some ...
Gene therapy could prevent arthritis
The following is an edited excerpt. Most people who live to old age will suffer from arthritis. The condition’s prevalence ...
The real seeds of deception
The following is an edited excerpt. In October, Dan Charles, NPR’s food and agriculture correspondent, wrote an excellent piece headlined: ...
Genes are not esoteric knowledge
The following is an edited excerpt. Over at Slate the advice columnist received an email from a man who found out that his wife ...
Why culture is chunky and genes are creamy
The following is an excerpt. My daughter has four grandparents. Genetically she is a little over 25 percent her paternal ...
The myth of common cuckoldry
The following is an excerpt. One of the quasi-facts which I often stumble upon is the idea that in 10 ...
The importance of open data in genomics
The following is an excerpt. Yesterday a friend of mine who happens to be of doughty German and Scandinavian upper ...
Bringing back the Neanderthal genome the old-fashioned way
The following is an excerpt. With all the crazy talk about George Church and an adventurous young woman conspiring to bring back ...
Biotechnology: Teaching the controversy?
Is the American Museum of Natural History helping the public learn about biotechnology in its fine new exhibit on food ...
Why GMOs are great and why they should be labeled
Earlier this week, I was dismissive of the GMO labeling movement in a way that didn’t do justice to its core concerns. I wrote: Like ...
