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Golden Rice, Frankenfood, and the torch-wielding mob

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Pubblicato il 04/03/2014Read time: 1 min

Most scientists hate the term “Frankenfood” applied to genetically engineered (GE) crops. Activists certainly use it as an insult. But did those activists actually read Mary Shelley’s book?
Mary Shelley’s creature is not at first a monster of despicable evil; quite the contrary, he is agentile and sensitive creature condemned to solitude and neglect and chased everywhere he goes by bigoted mobs that dislike him only for aesthetic reasons, because he seems to them a monstrosity. Listen at the creature’s lament when, after secretly helping a family of poor farmers, he finally decides to reveal himself:
“The more I saw of them, the greater became my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures; to see their sweet looks directed towards me with affection, was the utmost limit of my ambition. I dared not think that they would turn from me with disdain and horror.” Continue reading on Sci-Phy

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Ariel Polandri (@ArielPoliandri) is Senior Post-doctoral Researcher in Stem Cell Disease Modelling at the Imperial College in London. 

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Responsibility for the damages caused by climate change and attribution science

di Stefano Nespor
Pubblicato il 02/10/2023

Disputes and legal actions concerning climate change are on the rise, as are those aimed at obtaining compensation for damages caused by specific atmospheric events from parties believed to be responsible. This is a result of the findings of attribution science, a discipline aimed at clarifying the causal relationship between the occurrence of extreme weather events and climate change.

Image credits: Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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In an article from ten years ago, addressing the issue of climate litigations, the legal disputes concerning climate change, the author noted that most of them were brought against governments to introduce limits or controls on greenhouse gas emitting activities or against companies involved in their production (especially oil multinationals) to comply with existing regulations.