Oldest Homo sapiens a “nothingburger”? Plus US health care policy approaches The End

0000-0002-8715-2896 Oldest Homo sapiens a “nothingburger”? Plus top journos blast secrecy on health care law   Posted June 16, 2017 by Tabitha M. Powledge in Uncategorized post-info AddThis Sharing Buttons above OLDEST HOMO SAPIENS? It’s

Is the government telling women not to drink? How many microbes in the human body?

homepage_734x546pxThe headlines called it “incredibly condescending” (Alexandra Petri, ComPost),  “unrealistic” (Jia Tolentino, Jezebel), and “bonkers” (Olga Khazan and Julie Beck, The Atlantic.) The post from the aptly named Brandy Zadrozny at The Daily Beast) was

Is Lander’s revisionist CRISPR history sexist?

Explosive disagreements over the origins of CRISPR, the leading methodology for editing genes, were inevitable. CRISPR has given scientists (and journalists) dizzying dreams of a near-unlimited ability to manipulate the genomes of animals and plants,

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

White deaths increase: drugs, alcohol, suicide, but in US only. Why?

cemetary1-512x320 (1)There’s a big puzzle growing out of that startling new research showing that the death rate among white Americans age 45-54, especially the less-educated, has been rising since 1999. This even though the death rate

Cancer, processed meat, red meat. Just how bad? Not very.

NO MORE BALONEY The remarkable thing about the latest World Health Organization declaration–that processed meats are definitely carcinogenic and red meat probably is too–is how many media folks responded by trying to save our bacon.

Again, water on Mars. Also abortion, Planned Parenthood, fetal tissue research

WATERY MARS AGAIN Emily Lakdawalla thinks everybody should calm down about NASA’s much-trumpeted latest discovery of liquid water on Mars. The discovery, which is probably not flowing water but rather something more like damp sand, doesn’t, she argues at the … Continue reading »

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Breast cancer: Should DCIS be treated? Pig genome: messy and quite boaring

SHOULD DCIS BE TREATED LIKE BREAST CANCER? No one seems to know exactly what to make of the big study on the outcomes of DCIS. (DCIS = ductal carcinoma in situ, often called stage 0 breast cancer or precancer, which … Continue reading »

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Pinker’s gene editing rant ignored most bioethics issues; debunking stoner Shakespeare

Do you suppose Steven Pinker’s broadside against professional bioethics oversight of CRISPR and other forms of gene editing–Pinker’s command to bioethics was brutally inflexible: “Get out of the way”–will change bioethics for the better? Or gene editing, for that matter? … Continue reading »

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First Americans mystery again plus $100 million search for extraterrestrials

DUELING PAPERS ABOUT THE FIRST AMERICANS Oh, goody. Dueling papers. Always a treat. And dueling papers in the same week in Science and Nature, an extra-special treat. The topic a hot one, as befits dueling papers: Based on genetic studies … Continue reading »

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