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.
Are we ready to genetically modify humans to eliminate heritable diseases?
The application of transgenic technology to medicine is rarely discussed. Much of the reason, I think, is that many people ...
Teen boy checklist: Graduate high school, freeze sperm, go to college
A UK bioethicist urges young men to freeze sperm so their kids won’t run a higher risk of inheriting genetic ...
Humans evolved across Africa and hybridized creating diversity
Homo sapiens appeared on the African landscape some 200,000 years ago. While scientists have long imagined eastern Africa as a ...
Split over human germline modification illustrates idealogical divide between Chinese and Western science
China is spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually in an effort to become a leader in biomedical research, building scores ...
Dolezal delusion: Scientists challenge claim there’s no biological basis to racial differences
The saga of Rachel Dolezal, who recently resigned as president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP after it ...
Is pre-puberty too young to consider sex reassignment therapy?
Gender confusion, known medically as gender identity disorder, affects children of both sexes but boys much more so, at least ...
Congress debates blocking federal support for embryonic genome editing, introducing religious oversight
The U.S. House of Representatives is wading into the debate over whether human embryos should be modified to introduce heritable ...
Livestock, pets increasingly bred with modified genes
Genetically modified crops are so widespread it's hard to imagine civilization without them. Genetically modified animals are also more common ...
iPhone app employed to study specific health needs of LGBT community
We don't know as much as we'd like about the role sexual orientation and gender identity play in health and ...
Kennewick Man’s genome to solve long dispute over remains
The genome of a famous 8,500-year-old North American skeleton, known as Kennewick Man, shows that he is closely related to ...
Flood of federal insurance money leads to growing fraud among some DNA testing firms
Dr. Scott Wilson often participated in medical studies, so the one being proposed by the New Orleans laboratory Renaissance RX ...
Human ‘organs-on-chips’ could accelerate personalized medicine, eliminate animal testing
Tiny tubes emerge from a small transparent block, pumping imperceptible amounts of fluid and air to and fro. It looks ...
Forensic DNA testing not as reliable as most people believe
In the three decades since DNA emerged as a forensic tool, courts have rarely been skeptical about its power. When ...
Are we nearing the end of antibiotics?
The antibiotic era isn’t actually very old. It begins, depending on how picky you are, with Alexander Fleming’s accidental recognition of ...
CRISPR’s potential in gene therapy shadowed by concerns over ethical use
Tracy Antonelli and her three daughters suffer from thalassemia, a blood disorder that saps their strength, leaves them anemic, and ...
How your gut microbiome may affect your brain and emotions
Bacteria in the gut produce vitamins and break down our food; their presence or absence has been linked to obesity, ...
Is the ‘hug hormone’ key to reversing social skills deficits?
Oxytocin has been of keen interest to neuroscientists since the 1970s, when studies started to show that it could drive ...
Transfusions with laboratory-grown blood cells to begin trials
The first attempt at giving human volunteers “synthetic blood” made in a laboratory for the first time will take place ...
New genome mapping technique can explain tuberculosis susceptibility
The fight against tuberculosis (TB) has been extended through the use of a genetic mapping technique called admixture mapping. This ...
Coral reefs may still be saved by heat-resistance genes and reversing climate change
Coral reefs still have some fight left in them. In the face of climate change, recent discoveries are giving us ...
Epic FBI DNA database may reveal private health information
Database behind nearly all DNA-based forensic investigations may also have our health information. Or not. Should we be concerned? ...
Despite continuing mainstream popularity, ‘Grain Brain’ author finds little support from medical experts
In recent months, the media has become increasingly impatient with high-profile health advocates who dispense unsubstantiated medical advice. Among the ...
Speed gene may explain why racehorses getting faster
Racehorses have been getting ever faster in races over all distances, a study of finishing times over the past 162 ...
Google Genomics teaming up with Broad Institute in DNA data analysis
A part of Google Cloud Platform, Google Genomics has partnered with Broad Institute, a biomedical research organization made up of scientists ...
CRISPR regulation can’t be left to scientists alone
This year, several leading researchers have sounded warnings about the risks of using the CRISPR gene-editing technique to modify human and ...
Who did modern Asian and European populations evolve from?
Modern Europeans can be thought of as compounds. The first element are a set of populations which descend from, or ...
Should men consider sperm-freezing to prevent age-related genetic mutations?
Younger men should consider freezing their sperm to avoid their children having genetic disorders if they choose to have them ...
