GP-write has big goals for synthetic genomes

0000-0003-0319-5416 We continue to improve our ability to read, write, and edit DNA on larger and larger scales. GP-write wants to gather and coordinate the global enthusiasm around large-scale genome engineering to bring about some

Whoops: Authors didn’t mean to include new data in article about transgender identity

Here’s something we don’t see that often — authors retracting one of their articles because it included new data. But that is the case with a 2017 review exploring the potential genetic and hormonal underpinnings of gender identity.  The authors Rosa Fernández García and Eduardo Pásaro Mendez told Retraction Watch that they asked bioethics journal … Continue reading Whoops: Authors didn’t mean to include new data in article about transgender identity

Jennifer Doudna’s Journey of Discovery: “A Crack in Creation” book review

0000-0002-8715-28960000-0003-0319-5416 Famed CRISPR researcher Jennifer Doudna, along with a past student Samuel Sternberg (starting his own lab in at Columbia University), wrote an account of her CRISPR discoveries and the possibilities the technology unleashes. The

Caught Our Notice: Bioethics article retracted for…ethics violation

Title: Bioethics and Medical Education What Caught Our Attention: As we’ve said before, you can’t make this stuff up: An article on bioethics had its own ethical issues to deal with. It turns out, the authors had “substantial unreferenced overlap” with another article, that “overlap” including the article’s title. Here’s a side by side comparison … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Bioethics article retracted for…ethics violation

Food Evolution documentary looks at science, money, and fake news around GMOs

0000-0003-0319-5416 Food Evolution aims to take a look at the science underlying the heated rhetoric of the GMO debate. Filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy, narrator Neil deGrasse Tyson and on-camera experts walk through the major claims

Dueling BRCA Databases: What About the Patient?

0000-0002-8715-2896 The news release Monday morning grabbed my attention: “Study finds wide gap in quality of BRCA1/2 variant classification between Myriad Genetics and a common public database.” Myriad Genetics had been exclusively providing tests, for $3000+ a

Is China using organs from executed prisoners? Researchers debate issue in the literature

A researcher is calling for the retraction of a paper about a recent ban in the use of organs from executed prisoners in China, accusing the authors of misrepresenting the state of the practice. In April 2015, a paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics welcomed the ban by the Chinese government as “a step in the right […]

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“Innocent mistake” leads to bioethics article retraction

A July article that incorrectly called out nine leading bioethics journals for their lack of availability to researchers in low- and middle-income countries is being pulled after editors of the indicted journals refuted the allegations. The last author on the article, published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, told us an “innocent mistake” and difficulty navigating […]

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More on gene editing rules, CRISPR in humans and dogs, bioethics & breakthroughs

THE HUMAN GENE EDITING SUMMIT, CONT’D Citizens seeking to understand what was decided at last week’s Human Gene Editing Summit might be understandably confused by the contradictions in these headlines: Scientific community approves human gene

Psychology cleans up its act, plus biohackers embrace gene editing, CRISPR, cyborgs

THE MESS IN PSYCHOLOGY AND OTHER SCIENCES TOO You’d think that the just-published Science paper, recounting a massive  attempt at replication of 100 selected research projects published in the top psychology journals in 2008, would be cause for much beating … Continue reading »

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