Researchers from Iowa State University are claiming that US versions of popular Russian-funded news media are littered with articles and links casting genetically modified organisms in a negative light. It’s an effort, say the researchers, to discredit American agricultural practices and to portray Russian crops as an…
In January, as the Obama era was winding down, both the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture quietly snuck through proposed regulations set to substantially overhaul the regulation of genetically engineered organisms for the first time in 30 years—and create drastic roadblocks to the…
Last week at the biotech conference SynBioBeta, I swiped one of Okanagan Specialty Fruits’ Arctic Apples and put it in my purse. The Arctic Apple is the first genetically engineered apple, modified so that when it is cut, it doesn’t turn an unappetizing shade of brown. When I got home, I sliced it up and stuck it in…
Have you ever had gluten-free bread? It’s terrible. That’s because what makes bread delicious is gluten, a protein found in wheat that helps to give bread the firm but light texture and structure that makes carbs so irresistible. Now, though, science may have a fix. Scientists have engineered new strains of wheat that…
You’d probably be uneasy if you heard that your food had been sprayed with something meant to kill other plants. Maybe you’d be even more uneasy if the WHO released a report saying the chemical was a potential carcinogen, but wasn’t certain. If an independent review of the data found the herbicide was safe, you might…
A US company has sold nearly five tons of genetically-engineered Atlantic salmon fillets in Canada, marking the world’s first sale of GM fish for human consumption. Skeptics of the futuristic food are crying foul, citing ecological and health concerns, but government scientists say folks eating the modified fish have…
You probably didn’t know that the state of Oregon is the self-professed grass seed capital of the world. Grass, it turns out, is a fairly lucrative claim to fame, accounting for more than a billion dollars in economic activity each year in the state.
Scientific progress doesn’t always move in a straight line. In fact, as we’ve seen this year, sometimes things just turn around and move backwards. Take climate change. This past November, the landmark Paris Agreement went into effect, with 195 nations signing on to combat the threat of Earth’s changing environment.…
Over the past few years, as people have been freaking out about a plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys, the company behind those mosquitoes has been quietly toiling away on another project. This week, British biotech company Oxitec announced plans for field trials of a genetically…
If you have noticed the selection of organic, GMO-free crackers encroaching on the shelf space of the Pop Tarts and Wheat Thins at your local bodega, you can blame millennials for ruining your midnight-snacking fun.
Amidst the clamor over genetically modified crops, there’s an underlying point that’s still being missed: Nobody really knows what constitutes a genetically modified crop.
Scientists have created three new genetically modified crops to combat three of the world’s most troubling crop diseases. Each was tweaked in a slightly different way to be resistant to those specific diseases. The details appear in three new papers out today in Nature Biotechnology.
For the past two decades, the number of genetically-modified crops has been steadily skyrocketing around the globe. Until 2015, when the number saw its first recorded drop. What’s going on?
A mushroom that’s resistant to browning has become the first CRISPR-edited food to get green lit by the US government. Here’s how this mutated fungus managed to escape USDA oversight—and why this agency needs to upgrade its regulatory guidelines.
Today Campbell’s became the first large food company to announce that it would begin labeling all their foods that use GMO-ingredients. Should GMO labeling advocates start celebrating? Nope, and here’s why.
You know all those campaigns to warn us against the horrors of frankenfood by putting GMO labels on cans? A new study shows that even when food has GMO labels, nobody cares.
The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban states from labeling GMO foods. It’s the first federal move on an issue that, until now, has mostly been controlled by the states. You can read more on the full case against GMO labeling right here.
Welcome to this week’s installment of Reading List, a weekly assemblage of the best science and technology reads on the Internet, brought together in one place, just for you, by Gizmodo. This week, we’ll meet a pair of Ukrainian YouTube stars making it big with do-it-yourself science, then contemplate what we’ll do…
By editing a single gene, researchers from South Korea and China have engineered pigs that produce about twice the amount of muscle as normal pigs. The goal is to produce leaner meat and at higher yields, but early results show it could be a long time before this jacked-up pork appears on your dinner plate.
It used to be that making cheese meant killing cows. Young cows, specifically—a few days old, at most. The stomach of an unweaned calf produces enzymes that turn liquid milk into good, hard, flavorful cheeses like Parmesan and Cheddar. These enzymes, called rennet, are secreted by mucous membranes that line the calf’s…