Daily Human Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of human genetics issues, including gene editing, regulations and bioethics, gene therapy, epigenetics, personal genomics, evolution, ancestry and artificial intelligence. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
People with more active brains have shorter lifespans, study suggests
There are many factors that influence how long somebody lives. Some, like their genes, are out of their control. Others, ...
Top 10 biotech innovations of all time, including CRISPR, IVF babies
Human Genome Project As biology’s first “big science” collaboration, the international Human Genome Project mapped and sequenced the entire human ...
Studying human evolution faces major challenge: Our ancestors lived in ‘ecosystems unlike any found today’
To understand the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution, scientists must first piece together the details of the ancient plant and animal ...
‘Temporary hurdle’: Russia halts scientist’s effort to create more CRISPR babies
Russian health officials are playing down international concerns that a Moscow researcher plans to create gene-edited babies any time soon, ...
‘Connection is what makes life worth living’: Study suggests extroverts are happier
“There are benefits of introversion,” says University of California, Riverside, psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky. “But research shows that extroverts are happier.” A ...
Two copies of a gene from only a single parent—This ‘genetic quirk’ may not be as rare as we thought
A supposedly rare genetic quirk might be more common than we think, according to new research out [October 10]. The ...
Are there subtypes of autism? Language regression study supports controversial hypothesis
Autistic children who lose words reach key milestones earlier than autistic children without language regression, according to a new study ...
CRISPR gene editing raises hopes of easing the pain associated with sickle cell disease
[Sickle cell] disease is caused by a genetic defect that turns red blood cells into hard, sticky, sickle-shaped cells that don't ...
How can ‘water bears’ survive in outer space? ‘Fluffy cloud’ of protein may shield tardigrade DNA
Tardigrades may partly owe their ability to survive outer space to having the molecular equivalent of cotton candy. Water bears, ...
‘Marsupial-enabled time machine’: How a Koala virus is giving researchers insights into the human genome
A koala retrovirus, or KoRV, has been rolling through koala populations in Australia from the north to south. It’s passed among the ...
Battling insomnia with a host of high-tech hacks. Do they work?
In the US alone, [there’s] 82 million people who struggle with sleep. Given those figures, it’s no wonder there are ...
‘If you get better, you stay better’: Deep brain stimulation could offer long-lasting depression treatment
Deep brain stimulation can durably improve depression symptoms in people who don’t respond well to other treatments, according to a ...
Researchers retract study questioning long-term health of China’s controversial CRISPR babies
A study that raised questions over the future health of the world’s first gene-edited babies has been retracted because of ...
Channeling our ‘inner salamander’: Research suggests humans have ability to repair overworked cartilage
Our bodies have retained the capacity to repair injured or overworked cartilage in our joints, says new research published [October 9] in ...
Turning DNA into a hard drive for data storage. How do you extract the data when you need it?
With massive amounts of data being generated around the world every day, DNA is poised to provide an ultracompact storage ...
Can death be reversed? Scientists partially revive brains of dead pigs
Despite technological advances, biology and medicine still lack a coherent and principled understanding of what precisely defines birth and death—the ...
Personalizing pancreatic cancer treatment by growing, treating tumors in a dish
Only about 15% of advanced pancreatic patients are alive two years after their diagnosis. Margaret Schwarzhans has now made it ...
Rethinking what causes Parkinson’s: Studies suggest we may be looking in the wrong place
During her time as a postdoc at the University of Basel in Switzerland, Sarah Shahmoradian decided to study the abnormal aggregates of ...
Why this NASA engineer believes we’ve already found evidence of life on Mars
I was fortunate to have participated in that historic adventure as experimenter of the Labeled Release (LR) life detection experiment ...
Eugenics offers a warning about the perils of scientists chasing a brighter future at the ‘cost of innocent individual lives’
We tend to associate eugenics with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, but it was in fact developed in London. Its ...
Video: Here’s what sugar does to our brains
When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation ...
Here’s a neural implant that doesn’t require open brain surgery
Facebook and Neuralink’s plans to merge people with their devices will likely take several years to materialize. Wearables like what ...
Beware claims by consumer DNA testing companies: They can’t predict how long you’ll live
“Upload DNA data and know more about yourself,” promises Genomelink, anywhere from fitness-related attributes, such as longevity, pulmonary function, and job-related ...
Can someone be held responsible when donor sperm leads to a genetic disorder?
After Danielle Rizzo’s first son and then her second were diagnosed with autism, she has struggled with the how and ...
Would the discovery of life on Mars be ‘world-shaking’?
In a recent interview with the Telegraph, NASA chief scientist Jim Green said it’s possible we’ll soon find evidence of life on ...
AI has a problem with generalization. Human brains may offer a solution.
Unconstrained by evolution, AI has the potential to churn through vast amounts of data to surpass our puny, fatty central ...
‘Really tough decision’: What should doctors do when genetic testing reveals that dad isn’t the child’s biological father?
The child was critically ill. The treating team at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, was stumped and worried that ...
Time for an upgrade? Swedish study reveals thousands of genetic sequences not found in human reference genome
[I]t’s hard to study genetic sequences if they’re absent from the human reference genome, the product of the $2.7 billion ...
