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Roma ‘gypsy’ people of Europe have long held a fascination for geneticists. Here’s why
The Roma people have long held a special fascination for population geneticists who study the frequencies of genetic diseases. The ...
Human life span may have few limits, analysis of supercentenarians suggests
In 1875, Harper’s Weekly declared one Lomer Griffin of Lodi, Ohio, to be, “in all probability,” the oldest man in the ...
Viewpoint: E.O. Wilson’s legacy under fire in some quarters after donated papers underscore fascination with racial differences and human diversity
Did Edward O. Wilson — Harvard professor, iconic biologist, champion of global biodiversity — promote racist ideas? For years, some ...
What are acetogens? And how could synthetic biology turn oil, coal and other fossil fuels into green, carbon-negative chemicals?
When most people hear about oil, as in petroleum, they think of what gets refined to produce gasoline. But it’s ...
Probiotics: Solution to long-COVID or overhyped sales pitch?
“Could THIS twice-daily probiotic supplement filled with gut friendly bacteria help beat Long Covid?” That’s the headline in the Daily ...
Why did the earliest humans leave Africa?
On a searing hot summer day at ‘Ubeidiya, an ancient site in northern Israel, an undulating expanse of dry grasses ...
Rumors swirling around the web that COVID vaccines spawn variants. Here’s why that’s not true
Are COVID vaccines responsible for creating the multiple variants that keep hitting the world? I get this question all the ...
New study probes reactions to discovering new relatives through consumer DNA testing
Late winter is the season for dealing with unexpected findings from DNA testing kits gifted in December. For most people, ...
Part I: Viewpoint—Many people believe ‘human biodiversity’ is alt-right code for embracing racism. Here’s why they are dangerously wrong
Why do some people equate the phrase “human biodiversity” with racism? And what does it really mean? HBD, as its ...
Will Homo longi elbow aside Neanderthals as our closest relative?
In 1933 a mysterious fossil skull was discovered near Harbin City in the Heilongjiang province of north-eastern China. Despite being ...
For the first time, CRISPR gene editing tools were injected into the human body — and cured a patient’s blindness. What’s next?
More evidence for the efficacy of a groundbreaking new gene-editing medical procedure has emerged, deepening hope it will provide one-shot treatments or ...
What science says about the future of COVID-19
With pandemic fatigue becoming more intense, there is increasing speculation about when the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, might become ...
Sandy From the Mountains dies from COVID-19, leaving a message to the unvaxxed
Sandy and her husband lived in a cabin nestled into a mountainside in a small town in the Rockies, next ...
Are geniuses more likely to commit crimes than people of average intelligence?
“Our society tends to regard as a sickness any mode of thought or behavior that is inconvenient for the system ...
Dangerous environmental neurotoxins are on the rise and climate change could make it worse. Can anything be done?
In the summer of 2021, a toxic, smoky haze stemming from Western wildfires wafted across large parts of the United States, ...
‘Pesticide’ has become a dirty word. Here’s why most fears are misplaced
Chemophobia is rampant. Some environmental groups, organic promoters and sloppy journalists have successfully made many consumers scared of products that ...
How Watson and Crick predicted the origin of Omicron and laid the groundwork for COVID-19 vaccines
The tantalizing final sentence to James Watson and Francis Crick’s landmark 1953 paper in Nature introducing the genetic material, DNA, ...
More than 5,000 US children recovered from COVID — then the virus roared back at life-threatening levels. Here’s what we know
Like most other kids with covid, Dante and Michael DeMaino seemed to have no serious symptoms. Infected in mid-February, both ...
Omicron: What we know so far — and what lies ahead
Since early in the COVID pandemic, the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has been monitoring changes in SARS-CoV-2. This ...
COVID ‘Doctors of Death’: Should physicians who peddle coronavirus and vaccine disinformation face consequences for their followers’ injuries or deaths?
Earlier this month, Dr. Rashid Buttar posted on Twitter that covid-19 “was a planned operation” and shared an article alleging that most people ...
Henrietta Lacks’ immortal genes are now the subject of a legal battle
Remarkable in life, a stylish Black woman who loved to cook and dance, Henrietta Lacks is even more remarkable in her ...
A house made from mushrooms and a ski jacket from microbes? Synthetic biology is poised to revolutionize what we can do with crops
Imagine if we could redesign nature by making a house out of mushrooms, a ski jacket from fermented microbes, and ...
Viewpoint: Greenpeace continues campaign to scuttle Philippines’ vitamin A-enriched Golden Rice approval, but government holds firm
COVID-19 has caused untold suffering throughout the world, but particularly in developing countries. So why is Greenpeace continuing a yearslong ...
Viewpoint: A psychological deep dive into the minds of COVID vaccine ‘refuseniks’
COVID has hospitalized 6.2 million Americans, killed at least 640,000 (the true count may be 800,000), and caused permanent cardiovascular, neurological, and other health ...
Smokers are less likely to get COVID: French researchers explore whether nicotine might prevent transmission
As we are hopefully exiting the third coronavirus pandemic of the last 17 years, it is time to consider that ...
‘Prejudiced, anti-science, anti-social stances’: Letter denounces University of Missouri lecture series speech invitation to anti-biotechnology activist-philosopher Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva, an Indian activist philosopher who maintains the Green Revolution was a failure and promotes small-scale farming to address ...
A daily pill to treat COVID could be just months away, scientists say
Within a day of testing positive for covid-19 in June, Miranda Kelly was sick enough to be scared. At 44, ...
