Scientists build DNA from scratch to alter life's blueprint
27 July 2017 - Scientists have long been able to make specific changes in the DNA code. Now, they're taking the more radical step of starting over, and building redesigned life forms from scratch. Jef Boeke, a researcher at New York University, directs an international team of 11 labs on four continents working to 'rewrite' the yeast genome, following a detailed plan they published in March. Their work is part of a bold and controversial pursuit aimed at creating custom-made DNA codes to be inserted into living cells to change how they function . . . It could also someday help give scientists the profound and unsettling ability to create entirely new organisms. Also on the horizon is redesigning human DNA. (more)

US first, scientists edit genes of human embryos
27 July 2017 - For the first time in the United States, scientists have edited the genes of human embryos, a controversial step toward someday helping babies avoid inherited diseases. It is thought to be the first such work in the U.S.; previous experiments like this have been reported from China. The Oregon scientists reportedly used a technique called CRISPR, which allows specific sections of DNA to be altered or replaced. With gene editing, these so-called 'germline' changes are permanent and would be passed down to any offspring. (more)

Warming to worsen dead zones, algae blooms choking US waters
27 July 2017 - Projected increases in rain from global warming could further choke U.S. waterways with fertilizer runoff that trigger dead zones and massive algae blooms, a new study said. If greenhouse gas emissions keep rising, more and heavier rain will increase nitrogen flowing into lakes, rivers, and bays by about 19 percent by the end of the century, according to a study in Thursday's journal Science . The nutrients create low-oxygen dead zones and harmful blooms of algae in the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Pacific Northwest, and Atlantic coast. (more)

Half of German companies hit by sabotage, spying in last two years, BSI says
26 July 2017 - More than half the companies in Germany have been hit by spying, sabotage, or data theft in the last two years, the German IT industry association Bitkom said on Friday [21 July], and estimated the attacks caused around 55 billion euros' worth of damage a year. Arne Schoenbohm, President of Germany's BSI federal cyber agency, said many big companies and especially those operating critical infrastructure were generally well-prepared for cyber attacks. But many smaller and medium-sized companies did not take the threat seriously enough, he said. (more)

Fashion brands bring hand-washing but little else to India's garment workers, say critics
25 July 2017 - Five years and $630,000 later, the Ethical Trading Initiative has done little more than teach workers hand washing. The agenda was to improve the conditions for tens of thousands of India's women garment workers who stitch everything from jeans to jackets for the world's leading fashion brands. Five years and 485,000 pounds ($630,000) later, the ETI, which brings together labels like H and M, GAP, and Burberry with unions, factory owners and civil society groups, has done little more than teach workers hand washing, campaigners say. Trade unions and labour rights charities, some of them partners in the initiative, say its shortcomings show big stores are merely paying lip service to the rights of garment workers. (more)

Opium numbs the pain for Indian pickers exploited on Italian farms
25 July 2017 - For almost three years, Amandeep started most of his working days eating opium and ended them smoking heroin. In between he picked watermelons for up to 13 hours a day in what activists say are exploitative conditions faced by thousands of Indian labourers in Italy's Pontine Marshes, just south of Rome. About 30,000 Indians, mainly Sikhs from Punjab state, live in the Pontine Marshes, a region that Italy's fascist regime drained for agriculture in the 1930s. Most work as labourers and over the last decade many have been forced to work for virtually nothing to pay off debts to agents who promised good jobs and organised travel from India. This is known as debt bondage -- the most prevalent form of modern-day slavery worldwide according to the United Nations. As many as 46 million people are estimated to be enslaved globally ... A growing number of these labourers [Indian workers] are taking drugs to cope with long hours, poor conditions and very low pay, according to interviews with workers, doctors, police, and rights groups. . . . At least one worker told a mobile health clinic that he wanted to quit but found it difficult as poppy use was 'strongly encouraged' on his farm. (more)

After woman's mysterious death at Mexico resort, tourists report similar incidents
22 July 2017 - Something sinister is happening at a handful of luxury Mexican resorts -- at least according to one lawyer and some tourists who've vacationed there. After a young woman died under mysterious circumstances at the Iberostar Paraiso Resort in Playa Del Carmen, her family and attorneys have been looking for a plausible explanation for what happened to her. Abbey Conner, 20, died in January within just a few hours of arriving at a resort with her family. ... An attorney hired by the Conner family to investigate the situation visited the resort and noticed numerous young tourists hanging out drinking at the bar. But he also noticed something else. ...The Conners were not the first to report mysterious events and ultimately, tragedy, during their time at a luxury resort in Mexico. An investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed other tourists found themselves in unexplainable situations with no memory of what had occurred. (more)

Mexico murders up with deadliest month in at least 20 years
22 July 2017 - Mexico's spiraling violence reached new heights with 2,234 murders in June, the country's deadliest month in at least 20 years, according to government data. Killings rose in states ranging from the tourist haven of Baja California Sur to the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and even in Mexico City, long considered a relative oasis from drug gang violence. For the first six months of 2017, authorities nationwide recorded 12,155 homicide investigations, or 31 percent more than the 9,300 during the same period last year. (more)