Genetic engineering is tricky business. Its potential for good, for bad, and for unintended consequences is almost unlimited. How do you realize the good while avoiding the bad? A war has been going ...

Nature has spent millennia honing the virus into a ruthlessly efficient delivery vehicle for nucleic acids. Viruses have even been harnessed for our own delivery purposes. But some applications have ...

This release is available in German. (DFG/DLG). Science and business in Germany demand more reliable legal and political frameworks and a more open social climate in order to be able to better exploit ...

The application of genetic engineering to food crops is controversial, and rightly so. Critics worry that changing genetics may have harmful, unanticipated effects on food safety and the environment.

In an unprecedented leap in scientific discovery, a new lifeform has been constructed using a mere 57 genetic instructions. This remarkable feat paves the way for boundless opportunities in biology, ...

Higher yields, greater resilience to climatic changes or diseases—the demands on crop plants are constantly growing. To ...

NEW GENETIC technologies are exhilarating and terrifying. Society might overcome diseases by tweaking individual genomes or selecting specific embryos to avoid health problems. But it may also give ...

For two decades, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which advises the Pope on scientific issues, has made wise observations about the importance of molecular techniques for genetic modification and ...

The series exposes the enduring legacies of colonialism in African food systems, challenges corporate-driven narratives, and ...

Recent advances in reproductive technologies and genetic screening hold tremendous promise for the elimination of harmful inherited diseases, but they also may pose significant national security ...