Top 6 Two
The increasingly bushy human family tree and five other paradigm-altering changes in our understanding of human evolution
From archaeological reconstructions of Neanderthals as stooped, hairy and brutish, to “cavemen” movies, our ancient ancestors got a bad press ...
Viewpoint: Ideology not science — Here’s why NBC News’ factually inaccurate reporting on the ‘dangers’ of the weedkiller glyphosate sets a dangerous precedent
What happens when an online information resource leans into clickbait? It’s annoying but generally harmless entertainment. When it’s a resource ...
Gene therapy approvals now at four with treatments for inherited anemia and degenerative brain condition — but costs are stratospheric. Why?
The FDA recently approved two gene therapies with hefty price tags, the first for an inherited anemia and the second ...
Growing rice in the ocean? CRISPR might be utilized to tweak ancient genes could be a future superfood
Around 75 million years ago, a remarkable group of flowering plants known as seagrasses migrated back into the oceans from ...
Crucial misrepresentations about glyphosate continue to threaten agriculture. This scientist explains how the UN agency IARC likely manipulated the data
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, was introduced over forty-five years ago and is the most widely used ...
Viewpoint: Mandatory labeling of crop biotechnology-derived foods is a failed regulatory policy. Here’s why
Proponents of mandatory labeling of foods containing or derived from genetically modified (GM) crops have long claimed that their primary ...
Viewpoint: ‘Would they know it if they saw it?’ Judge who ruled glyphosate could be carcinogenic demonstrates ignorance of science
A high-profile judicial decision in a federal appeals case has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revisit its finding that ...
Australia’s rabbit invasion: DNA analysis reveals how the European rabbit ‘colonized’ a continent
COVID and monkeypox seem to have come out of nowhere and exploded across continents. But the phenomenon of natural selection ...
What is the hottest temperature and highest humidity the human body can tolerate?
Heat waves are becoming supercharged as the climate changes – lasting longer, becoming more frequent and getting just plain hotter. One question ...
How and why gene editing faces fewer global regulations than GMOs
After they were introduced in the mid-1990s, GMO crops were met with a buzzsaw of regulations and skepticism because they ...
Revising my genetics textbook: A PC exercise or an appropriate evolution of science and sensitivity? Or both.
Beyoncé is facing a lot of criticism for using an ableist slur in her new co-written song Renaissance. She used ...
Viewpoint: Non-GMO Project promotes genetically-modified seedless watermelon
As summer grinds on, the Non-GMO Project is here to reassure consumers that seedless watermelon is not genetically modified. “Are ...
Viewpoint: Switching to organic food because it’s healthier, safer and better for the environment? Think again
Many consumers are committed to organic products for reasons that are more emotional than logical. They frequently define their purchasing ...
The hapless male Y chromosome finally has a purpose
I’ve never been fond of the human Y chromosome. Yes, the all-important SRY gene sets the early embryo on a path towards ...
Deep voice, height, testosterone levels, angular face, finger digit ratio, muscularity: Which male trait best predicts finding a partner and having children?
In a massive meta-analysis that was years in the making, psychologists from the University of Durham and the University of ...
Humans sleep away ⅓ of their lives, but it’s a lot less than other primates. Here’s why
Research has shown that people in non-industrial societies — the closest thing to the kind of setting our species evolved ...
Climate Action Farming: What farmers need to do to adapt as our planet heats up—and why organic and ‘regenerative agriculture’ cannot meet the challenge
There are a number of practices that farmers could use to manage their land in ways that would optimally remove ...
Viewpoint: Misleading claims on Mom’s Organic Market grocery bags deceive shoppers about bee health, pesticide dangers and neonicotinoids
I don’t deliberately avoid organic foods or markets, but I don’t seek them out either. Claims that organic food tastes ...
From the Environmental Working Group to the Pesticide Action Network, food activists claim we face killer risks from chemicals. Here’s why scientists don’t agree
E coli in ready-to-eat salads? Salmonella in seafood? Spoiled ground beef? Listeria in vegetables? Pesticide traces in… everything? Each year ...
Is conventional ‘industrialized’, technology-driven farming ‘destroying biodiversity’ as critics claim — or saving it?
Well over 90% of food, produce and grains in the United States is grown on conventional farms. Critics stigmatize this ...
Viewpoint: Popular Science is the latest ‘mainstream’ news source to fall into the anti-glyphosate disinformation rabbit-hole
“This Roundup ingredient might cause cancer—but the EPA won’t ban it,” Popular Science told its readers in a terribly misleading January ...
Part 1: Viewpoint — Anti-GMO activists conjure up new scare messages as their influence wanes
It's been ten years of downhill sledding for advocacy groups and activists campaigning to throttle the burgeoning biotechnology revolution transforming ...
From dairy to meat to seafood, the future of sustainable food is here. Thank you synthetic biology!
The very definition of what food is undergoing a revolution. It will be challenged by beefless beef, porkless pork, fishless fish, ...
Public trust, safety, and genetic engineering
Although the public is almost completely unaware, today, more than three-quarters of all food crops have been directly and dramatically ...
Viewpoint: Are American farmers overusing neonicotinoid-coated seeds and harming the environment?
Planting season for corn and soybeans across the U.S. will begin as soon as March in Southern states and then move north ...
When will CRISPR gene editing be widely adopted in farming — and what are the blockages?
If you’re involved in animal or plant sciences, you’ve been reading about CRISPR technology for many years. Ranging from the ...
Part I: The Clean 18 — Challenging Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen scare survey of pesticide residues on conventional fruits and vegetables
The recent release of the “Dirty Dozen List” by the organic-industry-funded Environmental Working Group has stirred up its annual hornets’ ...
