BuzzFeed News – In December, US lawmakers banned the FDA from evaluating clinical trials for any genetic modifications that affected the next generation. As that law expires, some are worried that the ban will be quietly renewed without discussion or debate.
Bloomberg BNA – The FDA needs to make major changes to its draft guidances on human cell and tissue products to foster innovation in the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine.
NPR 13.7 – This election season, voters should be evaluating the presidential candidates' attitudes toward science. ScienceDebate.org proposes a set of 20 science and science policy questions for all candidates.
TECH Insider – Strict rules govern which DNA samples are added to the FBI’s national database, but they don’t apply to the police departments’ private databases, which are subject to no state or federal regulation or oversight.
Futurism – Bill Gates has pledged an additional $35 million to fund gene drive research. The research aims to eradicate malaria with the genetic engineering of the mosquitoes responsible for its spread.
MIT Technology Review – Four letters of DNA write the universal code shared by all of life. Or at least they used to. Synthorx, a biotech startup, is designing microbes with an expanded genetic alphabet containing six letters.
Houston Public Media – Texas has one of the highest obesity rates in the nation. One in three Texas adults is considered obese. Now, San Antonio researchers are using South Texas volunteers to collect an obesity genome registry. This data bank will help tackle a weighty issue.
