Quartz
Debating pros and cons of gene drives to control disease-carrying insects and other pests
British biotech company Oxitec plans to kick off a months-long experiment in which it will release billions of Aedes aegypti ...
Gene drive technology to reduce threat of disease-carrying mosquitoes works in trials — but larger rollout hinges on regulators and anti-biotechnology activists
The mosquitoes are coming—and then, hopefully, they’re going. [Soon], British biotech company Oxitec plans to kick off a months-long experiment ...
Viewpoint: Regenerative farming modeled on organic agriculture could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pro-organic study claims
A recent study by Bain & Company and Nature United, the Canadian affiliate organization of the Nature Conservancy, shows that transitioning to regenerative farming techniques ...
Electricity from genetically engineered trees: It’s not as crazy as it sounds—but is it ethical?
What if trees could provide electricity to cities? .... This surrealist idyll isn’t too far-fetched, say a team of researchers ...
Gene therapy for Alzheimer’s? Biotech startup suggests new approach, using dementia ‘off switch’
What if there were a single mechanism in the brain that, when faulty, leads to all kinds of dementias? And ...
Lab-grown burgers? Cell-based steaks? Alternative meat industry scrambles to find consumer-friendly product names
The debate over what to call cell-cultured meat remains unresolved—and it could soon develop into a headache for the global ...
Viewpoint: Consumer genetic tests and scant privacy protections give us reason to be ‘terrified’
[Y]ou don’t have to be Orwell to understand that the decision to allow a profit-driven company to analyze a person’s ...
‘Super rare’ mutation protected Colombian woman from Alzheimer’s disease
Most of the time when we think about genetic mutations, we think about the ones that spell disaster. But sometimes, ...
Viewpoint: Read the fine print to understand the weakness of consumer genetics tests
Direct-to-consumer genetic tests like Ancestry and 23andMe were mostly the result of innocent curiosity. Geneticists at the turn of the ...
‘Countries have been invaded for far less’: Why the genetic arms race could start a war
Imagine you are the leader of a society that has chosen to opt out of the genetic arms race by ...
First lab-grown burger may cost $50 at anticipated 2020 restaurant debut
On April 15, Bruce Friedrich ascended a stage in Vancouver, Canada to give a TED Talk to a packed room ...
Viewpoint: Marketing restrictions on lab-grown meat, cauliflower rice reveal growing ‘tension’ between food producers and consumers
The [Arkansas] state legislature on March 20 passed a measure banning food companies from marketing “cauliflower rice” as “rice.” The ...
How the news of China’s gene-edited babies blew up
He Jiankui didn’t wake up on Sunday [November 25] expecting his world to change. … He knew international attention was ...
This AI-generated cheeseburger will make your mouth water
The techniques that empower computers to make autonomous decisions have become vogue for modern tech companies in the last six years ...
Fibromyalgia is a disease that eludes diagnosis: Can artificial intelligence change that?
There’s no tissue damage that explains the pain fibromyalgia patients experience all over their body, and contemporary medicine struggles to ...
Less harmful sugar? More efficient sweet silica could ‘shake up’ the food industry
The surprising truth about cake is that it’s astonishingly inefficient. So are lollipops, pies, sticks of gum, and cookies, each ...
Building a better brain model by harnessing the power of AI
Neuroscientists have a lot of data on the brain—we can see it, take pictures of it, study it. But for ...
‘Soulless, metallic robot dogs’ are headed our way
Earlier this year, [Boston Dynamics founder Marc] Raibert said the company planned to start selling its SpotMini robot dogs in 2019, and ...
What can we learn about ourselves from studying the way animals communicate?
If you listen closely to the sound of birds chirping, you’ll hear that they’re taking turns. The same goes for ...
Anti-GMO group: ‘Bayer is now the new Monsanto’
Bayer’s decision to drop the name means Monsanto products like Roundup will still be Roundup, but now they will be ...
Feelings of empathy shaped in part by our genetics
Parents are used to getting the blame for their children’s emotional defects. When it comes to empathy, it turns out ...
Vote to approve glyphosate herbicide shakes up German, EU politics
European Union countries found themselves at odds on Monday [Nov. 27] over weed killer. After a long deadlock over renewing the ...
Natural insecticide created with spider venom and genetically modified yeast
Scientists have noticed the powerful punch some spider venoms pack, and have started looking to them for inspiration for all kinds ...
Video: Why organic and non-GMO labels don’t matter when it comes to eating healthy
[N]on-GMO labels do more than placate people concerned about scientists secretly tinkering with their food. They might persuade people to make ...
What’s so important about sleep?
It’s common to try to cram more waking hours into each day. About half of people worldwide get less than ...
Aquabounty and food activists clash over need for labels for GMO salmon
Four-and-a-half tons of genetically modified salmon have been released into the Canadian food market, and consumers have no way of ...
Eugenics redux? Exploring the genetics of ‘success’ and social mobility
[O]ver a century after the beginning of the eugenics movement, scientists are carefully dipping back into the controversial research that ...
Kenya could become first country to approve GMO bridal bouquet ‘baby’s breath’ flowers
Baby’s breath, a staple of bridal bouquets, could become Kenya’s first commercially grown genetically modified (GM) flower. By introducing genes ...