Andrew Porterfield
Do GMO mosquitoes designed to eradicate Zika pose unique environmental risks?
Could we live without mosquitos? Maybe, but something else might take their place ...
When it comes to sustainability and organic farming, does size matter?
It's the way crops are farmed not the farm's size that matters when it comes to sustainability ...
Is the precautionary principle guiding law or a political notion?
What is the precautionary principle, and how is it being used, or misused? ...
How our brains respond to mass shootings
Hollywood and the US government tend to share unrealistic scenarios for avoiding mass shootings. Neither accounts for how our brains ...
Hawaii honey bee die-off points to likely culprits—Not pesticides, but varroa and viruses
Hawaii study may hold the key to the mystery of why honey bees are struggling ...
Experts split on whether current regulations can handle coming synthetic biology boom
As synthetic biology innovations make their way to market, questions arise on how these innovations will be regulated ...
Can CRISPR make cheap, GM-based WMDs?
The U.S. Director of National Intelligence for the first time lists a genetics technique as a possible instrument of terrorism, ...
Amish use GMOs, pesticides yet cancer rates remain very low
Amish farmers may not get cancer as much, but it's not because they don't use pesticides or GMOs. In fact, ...
LSD redux: Psychedelics may help brain functioning
Research on psychoactive drugs like LSD fell out of favor more than 40 years ago. Now, they're back and may ...
How does popular organic pesticide copper sulfate compare to synthetic ones like glyphosate?
Organic farming is not chemical free; one popular organic fungicide is copper sulfate. How does it work and how does ...
Why vitamins and nutrients are disappearing from non-GMO food
Non-GMO and organic food have always been more expensive, but why is it now less nutritious too? ...
Testing babies for genetic diseases: Are we ready for next generation screens?
New-generation sequencing may deliver faster answers for newborn screening, but what if they're not the right answers? ...
Differences between non-GMO and organic: More profits for farmer, more costs for consumers
Organic food always has cost more than conventional food. Now, a new player, the Non-GMO label, may make prices go ...
Inuit Paradox: Can we all eat lots of fat without weight gain or heart disease?
It used to be "French paradox" now it's Inuits: Eat lots of fat and never gain weight or have heart ...
Glyphosate battles: Why different European agencies came to different cancer conclusions
In the fight between European safety agencies, a conflict looms. The IARC chair behind controversial cancer hazard decisions also works ...
Next job for the microbiome: Tagging criminals
The microbiome may have a new application; solving crimes. Unless it doesn't work ...
GMOs in pipeline promise consumer-friendly traits but attacks by familiar critics abound
Genetic engineering of food is moving on to the second-generation. The changes could be revolutionary ...
Will GMO makers, advocates support labeling of consumer focused 2nd generation GMOs?
A new generation of GMOs may call for new ways of regulation. And the activists, manufacturers, and farmers may want ...
Next-generation genetics offer new way to combat hospital infections
In the face of antibiotic resistant bacteria, hospitals still use century-old detection methods. New gene sequencing methods will change that ...
For studies on GMO food safety, does length matter?
Anti-GMO activists call for longer and longer animal studies to assess the safety of GMOs. But are longer tests really ...
Being a vegetarian can kill you? How the press mashed a genetics story
Being a vegetarian won't kill you: What happens when the media confuse a hypothesis with an outcome ...
Activists behind Zika virus conspiracy theories, Argentine pesticide birth defect scare
South America's suffering from a number of epidemics. The worst one may just be misinformation ...
Despite activists’ claims about glyphosate dangers, there’s no cancer spike in Argentina
Anti-GMO activists have claimed that cancer rates in farming regions of Argentina have spiked. Interviews with local experts paint a ...
Genetic analysis shows lasting effects of caste system on health of modern Indians
Modern genetic analysis shows that India's caste system still has a significant affect on the health and biology of modern ...
Gut microbiome’s role in brain, neurological disorders still unsettled, for now
Does the microbiome have any effect on the brain? Possibly, but we're not ready for probiotics for your brain just ...
Stopping global hunger will require mix of high-tech, GM, organic methods
As the world's population booms, leaders are looking for solutions for feeding an additional 2 billion humans. Can organic and ...
Genetics might be able to save the world’s coral reefs
Coral reefs are suffering from bleaching and other effects of climate change. Modern genetic techniques--even GM--might save them ...
