News

In April 2013, a group of ‘bio-hackers’ from California used the social media fund-raising website Kickstarter to raise almost half a million dollars to commercialise a synthetic biology plant that glows in the dark....

Human inaction on climate change has led to some crazy ideas and suggestions − most notably geoengineering − the large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract climate change. Geoengineering ideas include seeding blooms...

Scientists have discovered that carbon nanotubes can boost plant growth if they are treated to be more soluble and are absorbed by plants. One research group has even produced ‘bionic plants’ by inserting carbon...

Good news of sorts on the patent front. After decades of expansive interpretations of patent law to include patents on pretty much anything, including life, knowledge and ideas; after decades of governments supporting expansion...

While concerns have been raised about the safety of nano-zinc, current government advice is that there is insufficient evidence for it to be considered dangerous. Now a new study reported on the ABC has...

The July 2014 edition of Chain Reaction – The National Magazine of Friends of the Earth Australia is now available to download.

The recent announcement of the creation of the first synthetic yeast chromosome has sent shockwaves through the scientific community. While many external commentators saw the computer design and synthesis of an artificial chromosome as...

Here’s a thought experiment: what if living things were actually machines? What if they were the sort of machines that you could take apart, reprogram, and hack to do something entirely new? Plants that...

Climate scientists have watched with mounting alarm as carbon dioxide concentrations have increased relentlessly. The anxiety has deepened each year as it has become clearer that the range of emissions paths mapped out by...

Exactly twenty years ago the first genetically modified (GM) food entered commercial use, sparking massive controversy, trade fights and resistance from farmers, consumers and workers worldwide. Now the biotech industry is poised for a...