FiveThirtyEight
Articles written for the GLP list the source as Genes and Science. All other articles were written for the sources noted with excerpts provided by the GLP.
Herd immunity alone isn’t enough to save us. Why a vaccine is critical
[G]etting to herd immunity without a vaccine isn’t as simple as the idea itself. A number of variables can affect ...
Infographic: Most Americans still trust scientists
It’s easy to look around right now and conclude that popular public opinion has turned against scientists. Twitter hashtags have ...
No, the coronavirus was not genetically engineered in a Wuhan lab, scientists believe
You could be forgiven for wondering how a disease as fast-moving and deadly as COVID-19 could just appear naturally, out ...
Genetic tracking helps contain Ebola outbreaks. Why hasn’t it worked with the coronavirus?
The first sign that viral genomics might transform epidemiology came in the wake of the 2013-16 Ebola epidemic in West ...
‘Perfect storm’: Why the coronavirus shut the world down, when SARS, Ebola and swine flu didn’t
In the past two decades, the world battled Ebola, SARS and more than one major flu outbreak. Those left tragedies ...
Video: What are the chances that Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine will work?
A vaccine for COVID-19 has entered Phase 1 of clinical trials in Seattle. How was it made? And how likely ...
Why can’t we stop rogue scientists from engaging in dubious research?
[C]an the public control science that leaves us with permanent and unenviable consequences? Recent news suggests that the answer is ...
Why almost all psychologists are ideologically liberal, and why it matters
When New York University psychologist Jonathan Haidt asked about a thousand attendees at the annual meeting of the Society for ...
Why do humans find classifying animal intelligence so difficult?
[D]oes a chimpanzee deserve more rights than, say, a pigeon? The logic that leads to “yes” is clear enough, but ...
Viewpoint: Consumers gain little from 23andMe’s screening for BRCA cancer genes
This month [March], the FDA granted the genetics company 23andMe permission to offer direct-to-consumer testing for three of the more than 1,000 ...
‘Sham surgeries’: Placebo effect could be harnessed for good
Seen through different eyes, the process of modern surgery may look more more spiritual than scientific, said orthopedic surgeon Stuart Green, ...
US life expectancy rose 5 years since 1980, but many poorer Americans dying younger
Your life expectancy can vary by as much as 20 years depending on which county in the U.S. you live ...
97% of US farms are family operations, not owned by agri-businesses
Farms are getting bigger and the smallest farms aren’t real farms. ... But there’s another important part to this story: Consolidation ...
Florida Keys may determine whether GMO mosquitoes will be employed globally to fight Zika
[The mosquito species] Aedes aegypti ... lives in residential areas (they love closets, for example) and can lay eggs in ...
New England Journal of Medicine: Mammogram screenings has led to surge in unnecessary surgeries
A study published ... by the The New England Journal of Medicine added to a growing body of evidence that ...
Sex testing should not be designed to suppress Caster Semenya’s born talent
[Caster] Semenya’s case is the latest saga in sport’s checkered history of sex testing, a task that is purportedly aimed ...
We still don’t really know what probiotics do
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Probiotics are having a ...
What’s going on in your gut when you poop?
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Shit happens, except when ...
Controversial Theranos blood test ineffective, and likely unncecessary
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Over the last few ...
Is psychology’s reproducibility problem a setback, or part of scientific process?
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. As science grapples with ...
What makes you a righty or a lefty?
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. About 90 percent of ...
Proving Zika link to microcephaly will take a lot more research
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. For weeks, Zika virus ...
How much is at stake for Editas in CRISPR patent dispute?
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. When is $100 million ...
Why studies linking diet to health are almost always flawed.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Whatever you’re worried about, ...
Confused when you should get a mammogram? Here’s why
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. If you’re a woman ...
Why your convictions probably aren’t as strong as you think they are
Paul Offit likes to tell a story about how his wife, pediatrician Bonnie Offit, was about to give a child ...
How important is height in attracting a potential partner?
Before I started researching height differences in heterosexual couples, I held two assumptions that you might share: Men tend to ...
Older father? Impact of ‘aging sperm’ on diseases
Worries about aging sperm — or, more accurately, sperm from aging men — are the same as the concerns about ...
