Archive for the 'Biotechnology' Category
Potential DNA Damage from CRISPR Has Been ‘Seriously Underestimated’
July 17th, 2018Via: STAT News: From the earliest days of the CRISPR-Cas9 era, scientists have known that the first step in how it edits genomes — snipping DNA — creates an unholy mess: Cellular repairmen frantically try to fix the cuts by throwing random chunks of DNA into the breach and deleting other random bits. Research published […]
Synthetic Biology Raises Risk of New Bioweapons
June 20th, 2018When “it” finally happens, my complete lack of surprise will coincide with a sense of wonder that “it” didn’t happen sooner. U.S. Researchers Trying to Create Pandemic Avian Flu Baxter International “Unintentionally” Sent Flu Samples to Companies that Contained H5N1 Avian Flu Scientist Makes H5N1 Highly Contagious New Bird Flu ‘Has Unique Traits’ Bird Flu […]
Bayer to Retire Monsanto Name
June 4th, 2018Via: Reuters: Germany’s Bayer will wrap up the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto on Thursday and also retire the U.S. seeds maker’s 117 year-old name. The German drugmaker had received all required approvals from regulatory authorities, it said in a statement on Monday. “Bayer will remain the company name. Monsanto will no longer be a […]
Gene-Edited ‘Super-Crops’ to be Grown in UK for First Time
May 29th, 2018Via: Telegraph: Gene-edited super-crops are to be sown in Britain in a European-first after scientists exploited a legal loophole. The Government has quietly approved the farming of gene-edited (GE) Camelina oilseed crops as part of a trial to super-charge the plants to produce Omega 3 fish oils, one of the most popular food supplements. The […]
Robots Fight Weeds in Challenge to Agrochemical Giants
May 22nd, 2018Via: Reuters: In a field of sugar beet in Switzerland, a solar-powered robot that looks like a table on wheels scans the rows of crops with its camera, identifies weeds and zaps them with jets of blue liquid from its mechanical tentacles. Undergoing final tests before the liquid is replaced with weedkiller, the Swiss robot […]
Scientists to Grow ‘Mini-Brains’ Using Neanderthal DNA
May 14th, 2018Via: Guardian: Scientists are preparing to create “miniature brains” that have been genetically engineered to contain Neanderthal DNA, in an unprecedented attempt to understand how humans differ from our closest relatives. In the next few months the small blobs of tissue, known as brain organoids, will be grown from human stem cells that have been […]
Woman Behind Effort to Stop Release of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Found Dead in Swimming Pool
April 12th, 2018Via: MemoryHole: On Tuesday, April 10 Washington DC authorities recovered the body of Key West-based environmental activist Milagro de Mier from the pool of a hotel close to the DC Convention Center . de Mier was in the nation’s capital to raise awareness and petition the US Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency […]
CRISPR’d Food, Coming Soon to a Supermarket Near You
April 8th, 2018Via: Wired: FOR YEARS NOW, the US Department of Agriculture has been flirting with the latest and greatest DNA manipulation technologies. Since 2016, it has given free passes to at least a dozen gene-edited crops, ruling that they fall outside its regulatory purview. But on Wednesday, March 28, the agency made its relationship status official; […]
YOUTUBE DELETES ENTIRE HEALTH RANGER VIDEO CHANNEL
March 4th, 2018The Health Ranger YouTube channel is currently returning: “This account has been terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.” Well, I went through being added to Google’s shit list over a decade ago. So… I have no idea why people who deal with alternative information continue to rely on Google’s platforms, given the company’s long history […]
Men’s Sperm Counts Are Dropping, and Scientists Don’t Know Why
March 4th, 2018Via: Yahoo News: The topic of overpopulation has been much discussed over the past few decades, but what if the real issue is a severe decline in population? It sounds like something straight out of a dystopian nightmare, but new research shows sperm counts are drastically dropping across the Western world. Researchers from Hebrew University-Hadassah […]
