popular science
Replacing industrial produced fertilizers: Specially-bred soil-enriching bacteria poised to dramatically cut crop chemical inputs, protecting farms and the climate
[A]s the world’s demand for agricultural products has grown, the nutrients needed to grow all our crops has far outpaced ...
Popular Science weighs in on the GMO debate: ‘Food safety experts agree genetically modified organisms, from plants to animals, are safe for human consumption’
By January 2022, products that have been bioengineered, or have an ingredient in them that’s been bioengineered, will require a ...
Synergistic effect of ‘agricultural chemical cocktails’ commonly used by farmers pose harm to pollinating insects
For bees, the threats are numerous, including habitat loss, climate change, and intensive agriculture. As fields of flowering plants are ...
When it comes to evolution, could humans be more impactful than nature?
The composition of our air and water is different from what it was even a few decades ago. There is ...
‘Future foods’: How kelp, maggots, fungus and other nutrients grown outside of the traditional agriculture system can help fight climate change
In a new perspective piece, researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk explain that ...
How should trans athletes qualify for women’s sports?
In 2004, the nationally ranked long-distance runner [Joanna Harper] started hormone therapy (HT) as part of her transition to female ...
Prehistoric footprints offer snapshot of how our ancestors divided labor between men and women
Prehistoric footprints are a remarkable and precious source of evidence for the behavior and biology of ancient organisms, capturing a ...
Do you miss or spot Hollywood movie ‘continuity errors’? Here’s how ‘change blindness’ works
Gaze at the top image of Ben Franklin’s famous kite study. Now, the one below it. See the changes? You ...
Something’s fishy: We got arms, legs and other skeletal features from our aquatic ancestors
In his 20 years as an ichthyologist, [John Sparks has] seen a lot of fish—intact and not. He’s traveled to ...
Mongolians, and their gut bacteria, may be the key to solving lactose intolerance
[Archaeogeneticist Christina] Warinner was there to solve a mystery: Despite the dairy diversity she saw, an estimated 95 percent of ...
Why do humans have tailbones?
Though it’s currently useless, the human coccyx—commonly referred to as the tailbone—remains nestled at the bottom of the spine, a ...
Strep throat making a comeback? Bacteria developing resistance to our ‘go-to’ antibiotics
Strep is generally considered a known entity—with a known, reliable treatment. Then came two serious Strep A infections in Seattle, ...
‘The Intelligence Trap’: Book examines why smart people make irrational decisions
While decades of psychological research have documented humanity’s more irrational tendencies, it is only relatively recently that scientists have started ...
Sickle cell disease targeted with CRISPR therapy as ‘the only potential cure’
[F]or the first time, doctors in the United States used the gene editing tool CRISPR to attempt to remedy a ...
Can 23andMe’s consumer genetics test predict diabetes risk?
Adding to its roster of healthcare offerings, the direct-to-consumer genetic testing company 23andMe announced [March 11] that it can provide ...
Gene editing police? World Health Organization may take on the job
Who’s going to police CRISPR? That was the cry of many scientists after news broke at the end of last ...
Unhealthy sperm often overlooked as cause of lost pregnancies
Doctors often recommend women who experience recurrent pregnancy loss, usually defined as three or more losses, undergo testing to try ...
Epigenetic clues could assist crime investigations by revealing age range, lifestyle habits of suspects
[The] field of forensic epigenetics [uses] the markers that sit on top of DNA and modify it’s expression, rather than the ...
Can a blood test find your body’s internal clock
Your body has a clock—and thanks to the travails of modern life, that clock may not line up with the timing ...
Synthetic marijuana has a real problem: Nobody knows what’s in it
[Recently], more than 70 people overdosed on the synthetic marijuana known as K2 during a single 24 hour period in New Haven, ...
Viewpoint: Here’s why it’s ‘moronic’ to suggest that Homo erectus was lazy
[Y]ou’ve probably seen a headline or two (or twelve) touting a new discovery about our long extinct human relative, Homo erectus ...
When is it ok to edit the genome of a human embryo? Americans have mixed opinions
We’ve reached the point in scientific and technological advancement that editing our own genomes, or those of humans not yet ...
Editing the brain? CRISPR and gold nanoparticles could make it possible
Add this to the list of possible applications for the seemingly-magical gene editing technology CRISPR: helping people with neurological disorders edit ...
Human womb transplants are possible. But do we need them?
As gynecologist and surgeon Liza Johannesson prepped to deliver the child via cesarean section, she was nervous. Not for the ...
Patenting the genes of marine creatures and why it could matter for research
From the tiniest microbe to the biggest whale, the ocean is teeming with life. For corporations and researchers, that biodiversity is ...
How purebred dogs are helping us fight cancer in humans
Roughly a quarter of all purebred dogs die of cancer, and 45 percent of those who live past the age of ...
Do cell phones cause cancer? Unlikely, but activists are skeptical of journalists who present the facts
While it has been theorized that radiation from cellphone usage has the ability to cause cancer, there is no evidence ...
