|  U.S. patent agency to decide inventor of powerful gene editing technology By Andrew Chung NEW YORK (Reuters) - A showdown between two teams of top U.S. scientists over who was first to invent a breakthrough gene-editing technology known as CRISPR formally began on Monday as a U.S. government agency launched proceedings to decide the issue. The outcome could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars as scientists say the powerful technology allows for easier and more precise genetic engineering in living cells. A tribunal within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which initiated the proceeding known as an interference, will now examine both sides' evidence, a process that could take months, to determine who should own a patent on the technology. Read More » EU food safety watchdog hits back at scientists in glyphosate spat  | By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The head of Europe's food safety watchdog has written to a group of nearly 100 senior scientists strongly rejecting their criticisms in an ongoing row about the safety of weed-killer ingredient glyphosate. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises EU policymakers, in November issued an opinion that glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer. The IARC said in March that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans".
| Read More » EU food safety watchdog hits back at scientists in glyphosate row  | By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The head of Europe's food safety watchdog has written to a group of nearly 100 senior scientists strongly rejecting their criticisms in a row about the safety of weed-killer ingredient glyphosate. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises European Union policymakers, issued an opinion in November that glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer. The IARC said in March that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans" while environmental groups have been calling for a ban on glyphosate.
| Read More » Buccaneer Bones: Possible Pirate Skeleton Found Under Scotland Schoolyard  | Dead men tell no tales, but scientists can still learn much about them from their bones. Archaeologists recently determined that a skeleton found buried on a primary school's property in Edinburgh, Scotland, dates back to the 16th century and likely was that of a criminal. When human remains unexpectedly turned up during excavation work for the Victoria Primary School's expansion, archaeologists were soon putting together the pieces — quite literally, as the skull was broken during its discovery — to find out how old the remains were and to whom they may have belonged.
| Read More » Prize-Winning Photos Capture Magical World of Underwater Creatures  | Shimmering against a background of deepest black, an image of a rarely seen larval cusk-eel captured by photographer Jeff Milisen earned the top prize in the Underwater Photography Guide's 2015 Ocean Art Contest.
| Read More » Will You Win Powerball? A Vending Machine Death Is More Likely The winner of this Wednesday's Powerball drawing is poised to collect a staggering $1.3 billion (before taxes). But with the discouraging odds of 1 in 292.2 million, it's extremely unlikely that you'll find yourself with the winning ticket. In fact, you're more likely to die from a vending-machine-related accident than to draw the lucky number. (The odds of dying from a vending-machine-related accident are 1 in 112 million, according to Read More » Global warming could stave off next ice age for 100,000 years  | By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming is likely to disrupt a natural cycle of ice ages and contribute to delaying the onset of the next big freeze until about 100,000 years from now, scientists said on Wednesday. In the past million years, the world has had about 10 ice ages before swinging back to warmer conditions like the present. In the last ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, ice sheets blanketed what is now Canada, northern Europe and Siberia.
| Read More » | |
