Science Facts & Fallacies

Cameron English
  • 4.2 (24)
  • SCIENCE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
Science Facts & Fallacies

From CRISPR gene-edited embryos to GMO crops, biotechnology is revolutionizing medicine and farming. Scientists are increasingly able to make targeted genetic tweaks to humans, plants and animals to combat our most urgent global challenges—including hunger, disease, aging and climate change. Sadly, scientific misinformation spreads like cancer through social media and partisan blogs. Where can you turn for trustworthy analysis of groundbreaking biotechnology innovations independent of ideological bias? Who can you trust? Join the Genetic Literacy Project and our world-renowned experts as we explore the brave new world of human genetics, biomedicine, farming and food.

Episodes

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    GLP podcast: AI chatbot convinces student to commit suicide. ‘Smart’ agriculture isn’t so smart; Will alcohol warning labels save lives?

    Another teenager has committed suicide following some horrifying encouragement from an AI chatbot to "please die." Who's at fault when a computer program goes rogue? African countries are being urged to reduce their use of chemicals and embrace "regenerative" agriculture. That sounds appealing to well-fed Westerners, but what does it mean in practice for people in Africa? Will cancer warning labels on alcohol save lives? The answer isn't so clear. Podcast: Join hosts Dr. Liza Dunn and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 300 of Science Facts and Fallacies as they break down these latest news stories: * ‘You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please’: A 14-year old took AI seriously. Who is responsible? Google's AI assistant Gemini talked a college student into killing himself with a downright malevolent message: "You are a drain on the earth. You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please,” the program declared. The vast majority of people aren't driven to rash action by Gemini and similar AI tools; one similar case of tech-induced suicide has been reported recently. But these tragedies prompt two important questions: how can the law protect us from AI run amok? And perhaps more importantly, is humanity ready to grapple with the consequences of these novel technologies? * Smart agriculture: African farmers urged to gradually reduce use of pesticides and fertilizers rather than abandon them to reduce risk of significant crop and economic losses The West boosted its food production through the 20th century with the help of enhanced crop varieties and access to yield-boosting fertilizers and chemistries that helped control pests. Africa is now on the cusp of a similar opportunity, but its farmers are being pressured to cut their use of these conventional farming technologies and opt for "climate-smart" agricultural practices and "a return to old, indigenous ways of working with nature," as Reuters reported. The problem? These solutions simply can't produce enough food to feed  an entire continent, which makes them anything but sustainable. * Viewpoint: Are warnings on alcoholic drinks necessary? Will they save lives? Alcohol is a known carcinogen, though that fact is unknown to many millions of people who drink casually and heavily for most of their lives. The US government believes a warning label on alcoholic drinks will encourage the public to moderate its drinking habits. Is there any science to support this belief? Dr. Liza Dunn is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on X @DrLizaMD Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow him on X @camjenglish

    48 min

  2. JAN 22

    GLP podcast: Our food is poisoning us? Here are the facts about red dye, pesticides and processing

    With a few thumb taps on a smart phone, we can order an almost limitless selection of foods and have them delivered to our front doors. Our grocery stores are filled with a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and meats and an equally enormous selection of preprepared foods. Across the US there are restaurants on seemingly every corner in every city. Put simply,  we have the safest and most abundant supply of food the world has ever seen. Our access to food is a miracle of economic growth and innovation in agriculture. Yet it's routinely derided as nothing but a convenience, and an unhelpful one at that because our food supposedly contains an array of harmful chemicals. From red dye to plastics and pesticides, not a day goes by without a viral tweet or news headline warning us that something in our food is making us fat and sick, setting us up for an early death along the way. Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter. SIGN UP It's enough to send anyone into panic if not for one thing: all these claims, without exception, are flagrantly false. Join Dr. Liza Dunn and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 299 of the Science Facts and Fallacies podcast as they break down the bad science and deceptive marketing that train Americans to fear their food. Podcast: Dr. Liza Dunn is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on X @DrLizaMD Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow him on X @camjenglish

    41 min

  3. JAN 15

    GLP podcast: Modern farming—’a miracle of science’; extreme weather threatens our food supply? Activists promote retracted pesticide study

    Food production has absolutely exploded since the 1960s, feeding billions more people while innovative technologies reduced the environmental impact of farming. A recent study claimed that extreme weather is poised to constrict global food supplies. How worried should we be? Research blaming pesticides for 385 million annual cases of poisoning has been retracted, yet anti-chemical activists continue citing the fabricated figure. If pesticides are so harmful, why must the activists rely on subpar science to attack them? Podcast: Join hosts Dr. Liza Dunn and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 298 of Science Facts and Fallacies as they break down these latest news stories: * Global farming revolution since the 1960s: ‘A miracle of science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship The 1960s gave rise to a radical strain of environmentalism that predicted mass famine as global population growth began to dwarf our ability to feed ourselves. How fantastically wrong those projections turned out to be. Between 1961 and 2022, global soybean output increased by nearly 1,300 percent and corn production grew by roughly 560 percent, while global rice production more than tripled. All the while, farmers reduced the amount of land they cultivated to grow these additional calories. It's a testament to the power of scientific innovation and the uselessness of doomsday prophecies. * Extreme weather is threatening global food supplies. What can be done? As the world warms, extreme weather events will grow more severe and frequent, jeopardizing the ability of farmers to reliably raise the crops and animals we all rely on for food. That's according to a paper recently published in the journal Science, which warns that climate change is likely to shrink harvests, reduce the effectiveness of fertilizers and accelerate the damage caused by crop pests and soil erosion. How harmful could these impacts be, and how do we prepare for them? Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter. SIGN UP * Viewpoint: NGO claim that crop pesticides has led to hundreds of thousands of poisoning deaths has proven false but activists don’t retract it

    30 min

  4. JAN 9

    GLP podcast: ‘Spatula Gate’—The black plastic chemical scare collapses

    In early October a small study published in an obscure science journal went viral for alleging that cookware and children's toys made of black plastic contained previously undetected toxic chemicals. The researchers speculated that these products, made from recycled electronics, contained potentially harmful levels of flamed retardants linked to a variety of maladies, including cancer and reproductive harm. The press boosted the study incessantly well into December, encouraging the public to toss their black plastic products to protect themselves. NBC even pointed readers to affiliate websites where they could buy non-toxic spatula sets. But the scandal came crashing down when a chemist at McGill University spotted an embarrassing error in the study: the researchers, employees at the anti-chemical group Toxic-Free Future, had exaggerated the public's exposure to flame retardants by a factor of 10. Black plastic wasn't so hazardous, after all. Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter. SIGN UP Critics quickly piled on, highlighting other serious limitations in the research; the journal that published the paper also came under scrutiny from independent experts for publishing multiple low-quality studies in the last year. The months-long plastic scandal came crashing down in a matter of days. Join Dr. Liza Dunn and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 297 of the Science Facts and Fallacies podcast as they break down the bad science and misleading headlines that fueled another baseless chemical scare. Podcast: Dr. Liza Dunn is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on X @DrLizaMD Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow him on X @camjenglish

    42 min
  • 4 Episodes

4.2
out of 5
24 Ratings

About

From CRISPR gene-edited embryos to GMO crops, biotechnology is revolutionizing medicine and farming. Scientists are increasingly able to make targeted genetic tweaks to humans, plants and animals to combat our most urgent global challenges—including hunger, disease, aging and climate change. Sadly, scientific misinformation spreads like cancer through social media and partisan blogs. Where can you turn for trustworthy analysis of groundbreaking biotechnology innovations independent of ideological bias? Who can you trust? Join the Genetic Literacy Project and our world-renowned experts as we explore the brave new world of human genetics, biomedicine, farming and food.

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