Latin American scientists reject Nobel laureates’ letter supporting GM crops

The Union of Latin American Scientists Committed to Society and Nature (UCCSN-AL) has issued a statement rejecting the letter signed by Nobel Prize laureates in favour of genetically modified crops and GMO golden rice. About GM crop science in general, UCCSN-AL says: “[Transgenesis] cannot be considered an advanced science anymore because it is based on fallacious and anachronistic assumptions. Its defenders have …

In defence of pathogenic proteins: Do our aging cells get smarter, not sicker?

Protein deposits in cells, such as those associated with diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, can also be beneficial – at least for yeast cells, as biochemists at ETH Zurich have discovered. The researchers found a new form of age-associated deposits in these cells, and they are now asking us to rethink our views on ageing and dementia. We age because …

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR & ALEXANDER COCKBURN – A Secret History of the Monarch: How the Biotech Industry Conspired to Knock Off One of the World’s Rarest Butterflies

On May 20 1999, Nature magazine sounded what might have been the death knell of the biotech food industry. A short paper in the respected British science magazine by John Losey, an assistant professor of entomology at Cornell University, reported the ominous results of his laboratory study on the effects of pollen from genetically modified corn on the Monarch butterfly. Losey found …

Is Pope Francis Sicker Than We Know?

Italian media reports that the pontiff saw a brain-cancer specialist from Duke have Vatican watchers wondering more than ever about the health of His Holiness. VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s press machine kicked into high gear Wednesday to try to dispel rumors that Pope Francis has a small benign brain tumor that was discovered by a Japanese specialist several months …

Hotter and Wetter: Report Finds Global Warming Driving Extreme Weather – Lauren McCauley

It’s not just your imagination. The punishing heat waves, record snowfall, and 500-year floods, which seem to be occurring with increasing frequency, are doing just that, thanks to global warming. According to a study (pdf) published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, these extreme weather events are clearly attributed to human-induced climate change and will only worsen as average temperatures tick higher …

The price to be paid for not cutting emissions of greenhouse gases could mean driving the planet across planetary boundaries, or “tipping points”.

An international team of scientists has tried a new approach to addressing the complex argument about the costs of climate change – and, once again, the prediction is that the costs of inaction will be so much greater than paying the bills now. The researchers − from the UK, Switzerland and the US − conclude that policy-makers must apply the …