The international protest "March Against Monsanto" was never based on truth. The movement perpetuated myths about GMOs to demonize a company that has a really bad PR department. But now that Bayer is buying out Monsanto, what is MAM to do? It's now promoting everything from anti-vaxxer propaganda to historical conspiracy theories.
Biomedicine & Biotech
Often times news stories originating from the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador focus on animal preservation efforts that have fallen short, fragile habitats spoiled by humankind and endangered species of one form or another. But recently it was about a slow-moving, four-legged centenarian tortoise known as Diego, who has been credited with single-handedly bringing his subspecies back from the brink of extinction.
Bayer, the German conglomerate, has agreed to buy Monsanto, the seed and pesticide company, for $66 billion, ending speculation about the acquisition. Now, the speculation turns to American anti-science groups and how they will continue to demonize a company that isn't part of evil America, but instead is based in the Europe they love to invoke.
Tens of thousands of women have mastectomies to treat breast cancer each year and a new study lends hope to the idea that reconstructive surgery could make breastfeeding possible afterward.
We know you hate guessing games so lets' get right to the answer. An alarming 58 eight countries or territories currently have active Zika transmission. And those do not include those countries where someone brought it back home after becoming infected on a trip. Here's the breakdown.
One of the latest contributions from the Huffington Post to the national dialogue comes courtesy of self-described teenage "food safety activist" Rachel Parent, who skyrocketed to fame after giving an anti-GMO talk for Tedx, and debating Kevin O'Leary. Her new article is titled "GMO Propaganda Has No Place In Your Child's Classroom." She then goes on to regurgitate her own propaganda.
Roughly 1 in 3 women douche, but there is no good health reason to do so. Douching can change the makeup of the bacteria that normally live in the vagina, and it can even make women more susceptible to STDs. Now, researchers have added another concern: Douching appears to increase the risk of infection with HPV (human papillomavirus), which causes cervical cancer.
A new study confirms something that we believed was true, yet couldn't be sure of. Research published online in the journal Pediatrics concludes that when concussion victims are removed more quickly from physical activity after a collision and have additional time to recover before resuming play, the intervention significantly speeds recovery time and reduces concussive symptoms.
While you were out barefoot skiing this summer, we were holding down the fort in steamy Manhattan, defending evidence-based science and medicine and debunking hype. (But we're not complaining; that's what we do!) So, in case you missed it, here are the top 10 most popular articles we published this summer.
Severe droughts can wreak havoc on coastal marshes, which typically provide habitats for many species, like mammals, amphibians and birds. But researchers from the University of Florida suggest one factor that can help these areas recover more quickly is the presence of mussels clumped on the roots of marsh grasses.
When biologists think of evolution, we tend to be biased toward those instances in which an organism gains some new ability, such as when a bacterium acquires a new antibiotic resistance gene. But a new paper warns that this is far too narrow a view. The authors contend that gene loss, and the loss-of-function that generally accompanies it, may play a large and overlooked role in evolution.
A drop in T-cell production may mean that astronauts are at least temporarily immunocompromised by space flight. To those of you who are eager for a trip to Mars, add "immunosuppression" to your list of concerns.