It’s become common to read that microplastics – little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser – are turning up everywhere and in everything, including the ocean, farmland, food…
Category: Genetics
Adjusting Proteins Increases Ozempic’s Effectiveness
Summary: Adjusting melanocortin proteins in the brain enhances the effectiveness of GLP-1 diabetes and weight-loss drugs. By inhibiting MC3R or activating MC4R, mice showed increased sensitivity to these drugs, leading…
Viewpoint: Few topics in science, health and food elicit more fear and misconceptions than the phrase GMO, most of it based on intentional disinformation
Few topics in science, health and food elicit more fear and misconceptions than the phrase GMO, and most of it is based on intentional disinformation. Let’s dissect the science. GMO:…
Throw away your lead-soaked tampons? Clickbait headlines exaggerate misrepresented study
Another day, another wildly mischaracterized paper going viral online, eroding science literacy, exacerbating chemophobia, and making our jobs as scientists harder. If people didn’t scrape PubMed or academic websites for press…
Freeze-drying turned a woolly mammoth’s DNA into 3-D ‘chromoglass’
Beef jerky and some woolly mammoths have at least one thing in common: Drying turns their DNA into super-tough glass. This glassy DNA is so stable that it preserved the…
Viewpoint: Rockefeller Foundation and other advocacy organizations argue agricultural production ‘hides’ the ‘true’ cost of food, favoring big corporations and wealthy and wasteful countries to the planet’s detriment. Here’s the nuance behind the inflammatory rhetoric
The first battle in President Lydon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” launched in 1964, was figuring out how to measure it. A Social Security Administration employee, Mollie Orshansky, won the battle,…
Delaying menopause? Why keeping ovaries working longer could potentially prevent age-related diseases
The ovaries, in particular, appear to be connected to virtually every aspect of a woman’s health. They also abruptly stop performing their primary role in midlife. Once that happens, a…
Oxytocin’s Link to Obesity and Postnatal Depression
Summary: A new study has identified the TRPC5 gene as a cause of obesity, behavioral issues, and postnatal depression. Researchers found that missing or impaired TRPC5 genes disrupt oxytocin neurons,…
Viewpoint: Darwin’s ‘Descent of Man’ is both deeply disturbing and more relevant than ever
Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man is full of unexpected delights — such as the trio of hard drinking, chain-smoking koalas that appear within its first few pages to illustrate our…
What are the prospects of developing a COVID vaccine against all strains and future pandemics?
The arrival of the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if. In order to be prepared for it, we will need government-funded basic science in universities and the…
