Genetic Literacy Project
‘Time for a reality check’: How close is artificial intelligence (AI) to thinking like humans?
Last month, Deepmind, a subsidiary of technology giant Alphabet, set Silicon Valley abuzz when it announced Gato, perhaps the most ...
Podcast and video: GE chestnut tree coming soon? Tylenol doesn’t cause autism; Damar Hamlin-COVID vaccine controversy
After years of delay, a genetically engineered chestnut tree may finally receive USDA approval. Is it headed for a new ...
Evolution of humor: How laughter may have helped early humans survive and thrive
Until now, several theories have sought to explain what makes something funny enough to make us laugh. These include transgression ...
‘Free to fabricate’ or ‘barred from teaching’? Discord over COVID underscores threats to academic freedom — and the public
Two scientists. Two prominent institutions. One is a tenured professor running a microbial research laboratory where she investigates mechanisms of antibiotic ...
Podcast: Battling omicron; Tide turns in glyphosate-cancer trials; Ukraine war softens anti-GMO movement—the biggest GLP stories of 2022
2022 was a dynamic year for scientific progress. The James Webb space telescope, launched on Christmas day 2021, quickly helped ...
Podcast: Time to eat bugs? Fighting high cholesterol with CRISPR; mRNA flu vaccines coming soon?
Are you ready to eat insects? Some scientists say it's time we get more protein from bugs and less from ...
Viewpoint: AI-driven medical tools could democratize healthcare — but they could also worsen existing inequalities
If AI works as promised, it could democratize health care by boosting access for underserved communities and lowering costs — ...
Live to 150? That’s what some AI algorithms claim is possible. What does the science say?
We’re obsessed with aging. In the quest to prolong life while remaining healthy, people have tried everything from turtle soup ...
Do GMO farmers ‘douse’ their fields in glyphosate and other agrochemicals?
Stories suggesting that farmers 'slather' their crops with pesticides abound on the Internet. A few examples: Controversial insecticide use rises ...
Podcast: Should you clone your pets? Drought-tolerant crops work; We really need more antibiotics
Do you want to clone your pet? There are companies that will do it for you—if you have a half-million ...
‘The Price of Immortality’: How long can gene therapy and cellular regeneration extend life?
Book Review: Behind the Quest for Eternal Life—In “The Price of Immortality,” journalist Peter Ward explores the frontiers of longevity ...
Insect food? Public skepticism remains a major hurdle but here is the sustainability case for including them in our diet
The consumption of insects has slowly increased as the benefits become widely discussed. More than 2,000 edible species have been identified ...
How Freddie Mercury got his voice: It wasn’t his teeth
Was Freddie Mercury's magnificent voice aided by a genetic defect? ...
Podcast: Life-saving snake venom? Palm oil from gene-edited soybeans; Fighting plastic pollution with biotech
Believe it or not, scientists are exploiting venom from snakes, snails and other poisonous critters to make life-saving medicines. Could ...
Ancient humans didn’t get sunburn. Here’s how living indoors has evolved our skin
Human beings have a conflicted relationship with the sun. People love sunshine, but then get hot. Sweat gets in your ...
Curing insomnia: Techno-solutions like brain-altering apps and sleep trackers are proliferating but the solutions may be far more ancient
You will likely spend about 26 years of your life sleeping. You’ll use up another seven years just falling asleep, ...
‘Cities create a completely novel ecosystem’: How urban environments shape the evolution of plants, rats, fish and birds
Brown rats in New York City may be evolving smaller rows of teeth. Tiny fish across the Eastern US have ...
Women have a much higher risk of being killed by male partners. What explains this phenomenon?
One in four homicides is committed by an intimate partner. As many as four out of ten murders of women ...
Teenage brains are a cauldron of change: Here’s what happens on the inside and how it affects our looks and behavior
A lot happens when you reach puberty. Your voice may change and you will experience hair growth on parts of ...
Podcast: BMI useless? Lab-grown meat a ‘pipe dream;’ Did early humans eat each other?
Using body mass index (BMI) to assess a patient's health may yield misleading results and undermine public trust in medicine, ...
‘U-shaped happiness curve’: Do people really get more content with life as they age?
On average, happiness declines as we approach middle age, bottoming out in our 40s but then picking back up as ...
‘The Day I Die’: One man’s struggle with Lou Gehrig’s disease and physician-assisted suicide
[An excerpt] from The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America by Anita Hannig ...
Podcast: NYT attacks another scientist; How we got ‘GMO’ insulin; Why is gene therapy so costly?
The New York Times last week alleged that a high-profile scientist is in cahoots with the meat industry. Is there ...
British Member of Parliament urges UK to embrace sustainable biotechnologies, ignore Europe’s ideological rejection of genetic modification
Agriculture is possibly unique as a sector of the economy in its relationship with climate change. As an industry it ...
Is human intelligence an evolutionary dead end?
The German Philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was, by all accounts, a miserable human being. He famously sought meaning through suffering, ...
Do you have frequent nightmares? They could foreshadow future dementia
We spend a third of our lives asleep. And a quarter of our time asleep is spent dreaming. So, for ...
Viewpoint: Do you avoid GM crops because they were ‘made by science’ but buy organic food because it’s more ‘natural’? What does naturalness even mean?
Our obsession with products and farming systems perceived to be more natural risks preventing our food from being plentiful, affordable, ...
Podcast: Pollution makes you fat? India approves more GMOs; Biological ‘push notifications’
Air pollution harms our health in many ways; does it also encourage obesity? Farmers in India have access to two ...
