Genetic Literacy Project
GLP podcast: Debunking opioid myths; Decaf coffee boosts cancer risk? No. Local food might not be better for the planet
Most of what you know about the opioid epidemic is probably wrong. One expert shares the facts about pain pills ...
Viewpoint: No indication that COVID summer surge is fading
Like tens of thousands of Americans baking in the summer heat, President Biden is convalescing at home, waiting for the ...
Concerned you may have a food allergy? Don’t waste your money on ‘sensitivity tests’
Food “sensitivity” tests are sold direct-to-consumer and marketed as an easy and convenient way to detect an individual’s reactions to ...
Why do some animals have bigger brains than others?
Thanks to our large brains, humans and non-human primates are smarter than most mammals. But why do some species develop ...
Meet the beetles: Mealworms could be a food of the future
I have a special fondness for the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor ...
Smaller than microplastics? Nanoplastics are too small to see yet may seriously impact our environment and health
It’s become common to read that microplastics – little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser – are turning ...
Analysis: Misguided activist attacks on Africa’s push to increase the use of synthetic fertilizer — ‘Maintaining low agricultural yields won’t accomplish the climate and environmental goals rich Westerners purport to support’
One of the many impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine was a spike in global food prices. Although food prices ...
GLP podcast: Lead in Lunchables? Dismantling Consumer Reports’ latest chemical scare
"Should You Pack Lunchables for Your Kid’s School Lunch?" Consumer Reports asked rhetorically in a recent headline. "CR's tests found ...
Viewpoint: England’s Precision Breeding Act ‘remains an empty shell and serves no functional purpose’ — Will politics scuttle crop gene editing future?
In March 2023, after 10 months of scrutiny and debate, both Houses of Parliament confirmed their mandate to remove precision ...
Book Review of Paul Offit’s ’Tell Me When It’s Over’: FDA COVID vaccine advisor’s roadmap for a post-pandemic world
COVID-19 has resulted in more than 111 million cases in the United States, which caused about 1.2 million deaths, a ...
Viewpoint: Few topics in science, health and food elicit more fear and misconceptions than the phrase GMO, most of it based on intentional disinformation
Few topics in science, health and food elicit more fear and misconceptions than the phrase GMO, and most of it ...
Viewpoint: CNN joins list of media organizations snookered by Environmental Defense Fund claims that methylene chloride in decaffeinated coffee poses health hazards
If you've already read this recent story on the CNN news site, perhaps it's not too late to get back the ...
Throw away your lead-soaked tampons? Clickbait headlines exaggerate misrepresented study
Another day, another wildly mischaracterized paper going viral online, eroding science literacy, exacerbating chemophobia, and making our jobs as scientists harder ...
Scientific evidence in the courtroom: The ‘Daubert standard’ is again under attack, opening the door to more junk science in controversial tort cases
The 1993 Daubert decision assigns to judges the role of “gatekeepers” – meaning judges must first vet scientific evidence before its submission ...
GLP podcast: CBD’s placebo effect; The right-wing raw milk conspiracy? Tattoos boost cancer risk? Unlikely
Does CBD treat pain, or is the marketing hype around this supplement just driven by the placebo effect? It appears ...
Viewpoint: Rockefeller Foundation and other advocacy organizations argue agricultural production ‘hides’ the ‘true’ cost of food, favoring big corporations and wealthy and wasteful countries to the planet’s detriment. Here’s the nuance behind the inflammatory rhetoric
The first battle in President Lydon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” launched in 1964, was figuring out how to measure it ...
Viewpoint: Rising drug prices and shortages now fueled in part by the very reform mechanism promised to curtail them
You’ve heard this many times before: The American health system is failing to deliver in part because of ever-rising drug ...
Viewpoint: Anti-biotechnology activists decry the ‘Bioengineered Ingredients’ label but exploit confusion over what it means in order to scare people
When the federal government decided in 2015 to establish uniform national standards for bioengineered food labels, anti-GMO crusaders went into ...
Organ transplants sometimes lead to significant personality changes. Here’s why
Changes in personality following a heart transplant have been noted pretty much ever since transplants began. In one case, a person ...
GLP podcast: Facts and myths about ‘ultra-processed food’; Time to transform our food system? Don’t trust AI chat bots to tell you the truth
Is there a corporate conspiracy to cover up the dangers of processed foods? A recent news report say yes. Let's ...
Food phobia: Activists want to scare us about safety and sustainability of what we eat. Here’s why they are (mostly) wrong
Today’s choir of food critics would have us all fear our food. But is that fear really justified? One happy ...
FDA’s failures in the infant formula debacle cry out for reform
Today the crisis is over, but if you were a young family in the growing stage two years ago, scarry ...
Viewpoint: Zombie ‘Moms Across America’ tries to link non-carcinogenic glyphosate to Celiac disease, autism and other health disorders
I can’t wait for the day when anti-science activists decide to cling to an entirely different pesticide to fixate on ...
What are the prospects of developing a COVID vaccine against all strains and future pandemics?
The arrival of the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if. In order to be prepared for it, ...
GLP podcast: EPA wrong about ‘forever chemicals’? Heatwaves and drugs don’t mix; Idealistic activism harms public health
The EPA is facing a new crop of lawsuits brought by plaintiffs who say the agency's new guidance on "forever ...
“Extinction” echoes Jurassic Park, with a Pleistocene epoch backdrop
Multiple spoiler alert! In the classic film Jurassic Park (JP), disasters unfurl at a theme park populated with dinosaurs cloned from ...
‘Plastic is a product of brilliant engineering’ — Now let’s make it better for the environment
Materials scientists are cooking up environmentally friendly polymers from natural sources like silk, plant fibers and whole algae ...
Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer
A jury decision, while significant, is not a substitute for scientific research ...
