A food and agriculture startup called Pairwise developed CRISPR-edited vegetables to make them more palatable. They created a breed of mustard greens (Brassica juncea) that had reduced pungency compared to…
Category: Genetics
Viewpoint: OMG, humans might suffer convulsions from consuming parts-per-trillion of glyphosate? Here’s how wild headlines advance the ideological agenda of science-rejecting advocacy groups
Scrolling through the news has become a game of “What Great Horror Did Glyphosate Wreak This Week?” Variations on “Study first to link weed killer Roundup to convulsions in animals”…
COVID-19 Super Dodgers: The Genetic Secret to Asymptomatic Infection
Summary: ertain individuals carry a unique gene variant that allows them to contract COVID-19 without displaying any symptoms. Dubbed as “super dodgers”, these individuals are more than twice as likely…
Concerned about aspartame? Beware of this other “probable carcinogen” on your plate
While aspartame’s classification as a possible carcinogen grabbed headlines, the classification of another ubiquitous chemical slid silently beneath the diet cola outrage. The Lyons, France based International Association for Research…
Neuronal Plasticity Genes Linked to Alcohol Use Disorders
Summary: A new study discovered a link between alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and alteration of a group of genes known to influence neuronal plasticity and pain perceptions. The team used…
Aspartame spins the $25 billion Wheel of Mis-Fortune: How the environmental activist—tort lawyer money machine manipulates journalists, misleads policymakers and scares the public
Does aspartame, used in thousands of products, from Diet Coke to Trident Gum to Log Cabin Sugar Free Syrup, cause cancer? This Friday, two United Nations-affiliated organizations will publicly release…
GLP podcast and video: Why so many nutrition studies are wrong; Steve Kirsch—tech entrepreneur turned anti-vaccine guru; Confidence makes you seem smarter
Much of the nutrition research that attracts media attention is deeply flawed. A new study explains why. Silicon Valley tech guru Steve Kirsch went from obscure entrepreneur to anti-vaccine celebrity.…
Super-efficient short ‘smart corn’ capable of denser planting gets green light from USDA
Bayer AG’s genetically modified corn has received safety approval from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The shorter-stature corn plants, known as the Smart Corn System, are designed to be…
Schizophrenia Linked to Non-Inherited Genetic Mutations
Summary: Researchers found a link between schizophrenia and somatic copy-number variants, mutations occurring post-inheritance. The study scrutinized genotype-marker data from over 20,000 blood samples, identifying two genes, NRXN1 and ABCB11,…
Safety of herbicide glyphosate reaffirmed by European Food Safety Authority, rejecting activist claims
The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) said on [July 6] it had not identified “critical areas of concern” to prevent renewed approval in the European Union for glyphosate, the active…
