New York Times, Science stumble in overstated reports on microbiome research

A flood of journalistic supposition and health advice has galloped way ahead of the data in a paper describing the community of human placenta microbes. The New York Times and Science, both reputable sources usually, were the biggest stumblers during this round. Will this hinder the progress of microbes?

GMO science denialists? ENSSER challenges WHO, National Academy of Sciences on GM safety

When activist anti-GMO writers like Michael Pollan challenge the National Academy of Sciences and other global science bodies that have endorsed the safety of crop biotechnology, they often cite an obscure European-based group dedicated to scuttling the science. Here's the skinny on the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility.

Technology to assist human reproduction is growing quickly and without much government oversight. As these options expand past creating unorthodox families, how will society and the legal system keep up?

Nicholas Wade’s "A Troublesome Inheritance" has come under attack in some circles because it acknowledges what is an unarguable fact in mainstream genetics: humans are loosely grouped into populations based on ancestry and evolution--"races" to use a popular term--that shape quite different group behaviors.

Mitochandrial replacement offers hope to families debilitated by disease. But opponents stoke fear of public by dumbing down the science and using negative buzzwords.

For brewers today, there are few options for generating new yeasts to create tasty new craft beers. While the genetic tools already exist to create new yeasts artificially — by splicing genes from one to another — innovation will not happen source because of fears generated by anti-GMO activism.

Alternative health cyber salesman Mike Adams has threatened to sue GLP director Jon Entine over an investigative profile published in Forbes and GLP's Biotech Gallery. Numerous scientists and journalists have called Adams a "quack" and NaturalNews.com the 'most anti-science' site on the Internet.

From their very first field test in 1987, GMOs have been the subject of intense debate. Despite the current gridlock over labeling, there are hints that the contentiousness may be easing, giving way to more science-based conversations.