Nature
Bixonimania: The fake disease scam that AI swallowed whole
Bixonimania didn’t exist before 15 March 2024, when two blog posts about it appeared on the website Medium. Then, on ...
Red-light therapy: Breakthrough or junk science?
Experts warn that there is considerable hype about red-light therapy. But a growing body of legitimate science has been exploring ...
As China’s science investment soars, U.S. cuts spending dramatically
The Chinese government is ramping up its support for science, announcing plans to boost two key budgets at the country’s ...
Turnaround: AI can be an effective tool to challenge sustainability misinformation
Public misinformation about wind farms threatens the global transition to net-zero and a more environmentally sustainable future. This study examines ...
How U.S. global aid cuts are hurting science journalism
In 2024, US lawmakers earmarked $272 million in foreign assistance for ‘independent media and free flow of information’, according to ...
Scientists take to TikTok to challenge wellness woo, vaccine denialism and climate denialism
One of Simon Clark’s most popular TikTok videos begins with him playing the part of a clueless climate contrarian. Adopting ...
The older you get, the more likely you are to embrace health misinformation
Misinformation has long posed a substantial threat to public health, but it has not been clear who is most at ...
Viewpoint: It’s grim. U.S. science after a year of RFK, Jr. and Trump
More than 7,800 research grants terminated or frozen. Some 25,000 scientists and personnel gone from agencies that oversee research. Proposed ...
How to future-proof global food security to meet 2050 demands
Food security faces growing challenges due to population growth, resource limitations, economic pressures, and industrialization-induced lifestyle changes. Traditional food systems ...
CRISPR opens the door toward treating common health threats like rising cholesterol
A CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing therapy has halved people’s cholesterol levels in a small clinical trial — raising hopes that, with further study, gene editing could ...
‘Biotech Barbie’ Manhattan Project: Will CRISPR babies escape the shadow of He Jiankui?
Cathy Tie left university to found her first biotechnology company at the age of 18. In the 11 years since, ...
DNA analysis used to decipher fossilized Neanderthal remains okayed for genetic analysis of alleged serial murderer
A judge in New York rejected a request on 23 September to disqualify the use of cutting-edge DNA sequencing as ...
How badly will a long government shutdown impact science?
Threats of federal shutdowns have become routine in the past decade, but this closure could be different: US President Donald Trump’s administration ...
The microbiome–mind connection: Can faecal transplants treat depression?
Andrew Moseson experienced severe depression for many years. ... He struggled to find relief, nothing worked. ... Then, in the ...
Agricultural sustainability conflict: Little common ground between supporters of intensification and agroecology
There is broad global consensus that our interactions with nature are unsustainable and need to change. Agriculture is a case ...
Viewpoint: How to engage with a vaccine skeptic
...In the United States, about 20% of parents are hesitant about vaccines — one reason for an outbreak of measles ...
Air is a major conveyor of microplastics—and some of it is ending up in our bodies through the food we eat
Plastic production is increasing sharply. This has raised concerns about the effects of microplastics (typically defined as plastic particles smaller ...
Viewpoint: Why more native Africans should be included in archaeological research projects across the continent
“A lot of the evidence that comes out of Africa informs us about our origins,” says [palaeoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie]. He ...
Scientists and ethicists raise eugenic concerns about embryonic gene editing even when it could block diseases
To date, no attempts have been made to predict the consequences of altering specific variants associated with polygenic diseases. In ...
‘Devastation’ and ‘panic’: Trump guts key government support for National Institute of Health programs
Confusion and anxiety is rippling through the US health-research community ... following Donald Trump taking office as the 47th US ...
‘Evolution Evolving’: New book suggests a rethink of how evolution works
It’s rare that researchers question theories that make up the backbone of whole fields. But in Evolution Evolving, Kevin Lala ...
Lucy, our plodding ancestor
Ancient human relatives ran on two legs, like modern humans, but at a much slower pace, [suggesting] 3D computer simulations ...
The bigger the tomato, the more likely it is to lose its taste. CRISPR is changing that
The domestication of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has led to a massive increase in fruit size but at the cost of ...
Memory of obesity: Fat cells are at war with your diet
Even after drastic weight loss, the body’s fat cells carry the ‘memory’ of obesity, research shows — a finding that ...
30% more flavorful tomato: Gene editing improves one of the world’s most valuable crops
Rotten tomatoes no more: growing sweeter tomatoes is possible by editing just two of the fruit’s genes. Deleting the genes increased the ...
Another step ahead in AI advancement leaves scientists ‘in awe’ by latest ChatGPT model o1
Researchers who helped to test OpenAI’s new large language model, OpenAI o1, say it represents a big step up in ...
Glyphosate free farming is not in any country’s near future
Glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, is the subject of widespread controversy in scientific literature, media, policy, and society ...
Do lobsters suffer in a pot as it reaches a boil? Can a 12-week-old fetus feel pain? Science address what constitutes sentience
Can artificial intelligence (AI) feel distress? Do lobsters suffer in a pot as it reaches a boil? Can a 12-week-old ...
