The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched Feed Your Mind, a new Agricultural Biotechnology Education…
Category: Genetics
Are endocrine-disrupting chemicals causing a decline in fertility in men? Here’s how ideology corrupts evidence-based science
Attempts to make science conform to ideology have enjoyed a long and dispiriting history. For many centuries, religion was the main perpetrator, and scientists and philosophers who ran afoul of…
Here are 5 cool findings from a massive project on 240 mammal genomes
Citations N.S. Upham and M.J. Landis. Genomics expands the mammalverse. Science. Vol. 380, April 28, 2023, p. 359. doi: 10.1126/science.add2209. I. Gallego Romero. Seeing humans through an evolutionary lens. Science. Vol. 380, April 28,…
Viewpoint: Without glyphosate, critical wetlands and wildlife could be strangled by invasive plants
Almost two years ago, I wrote an article hoping “we are finally at a place when a few influential scientists with integrity will have the courage to speak out and demand…
Stress Rapidly Increases Biological Age, but Recovery Turns Back the Clock
Summary: Stress can cause rapid and transient increases in biological age, which can be reversed upon recovery, according to a new study. Using DNA methylation clocks, researchers found that stress…
Does IVF increase the risk of breast or ovarian cancer by as much as 65%, as some studies claim?
Statistics related to medical risks and care can often unnecessarily frighten people, and questionable journalism doesn’t help. Take the case of the ongoing debate bout the alleged dangers of in…
Turning Gray: Stuck Stem Cells Turn Hair Gray
Summary: A new study sheds light on why we tend to go gray as we age. Researchers found melanocyte stem cells get stuck as we grow older, losing the ability…
98% of the human genome: We are finally beginning to understand the mystery of ‘dark matter’ junk DNA
Less than 2% of the three billion letters of the human genome are dedicated to proteins. Only around 20,000 distinct protein-coding genes were found to exist in the long lines of molecules…
Viewpoint: GMO crops are key to sustainable farming—why are some scientists afraid to talk about them?
Molecular genetic engineering has spawned a strange new allergy. No, not the kind of allergy that causes hives or wheezing; rather, an aversion to mentioning the role of genetic engineering in…
Does conventional livestock farming use drugs at ‘unnecessarily high levels’, endangering human health, as activist critics claim?
Livestock farming generates some striking external impacts: while production provides 30% of human dietary protein, it occupies 75% of agricultural land, emits 14–17% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and uses…
