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.
Should biologists keep invasive CRISPR mutations in check?
On 28 December 2014, Valentino Gantz and Ethan Bier checked on the fruit flies that had just hatched in their ...
US ‘Wild West’ of fertility industry
The Utah Legislature has taken a step into territory where state lawmakers rarely tread. It passed a law giving children conceived ...
Egg donation companies commodify women through ad campaigns
This ad appeared as a “suggested post” on a law student’s Facebook News Feed page. Sponsored by A Perfect Match, ...
Genetics of why listening to music feels so good
That song you can't get out of your head might be doing something more than prompting you to hum the ...
Vikings once ruled Britain, but Anglo-Saxons still reign over genome
They came, they saw, they conquered. But while the Romans, Vikings and Normans ruled Britain for many years, none left ...
Brain too clever to be fooled by virtual reality
The faceputer ads say virtual reality is coming and it's gonna work this time. But here's some real talk: There ...
DNA testing fetus leads moms to their own cancer diagnoses
Moms undergoing genetic testing for fetal health sometimes learn they have cancer. Advances in fetal DNA testing are paving the ...
Aspirin may protect some against colorectal cancer
The link between taking aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, and colorectal cancer prevention is well established, but the mechanisms ...
Male-dominated prosthetics industry fails to serve women amputees
When a woman puts on a prosthetic foot or a knee or an arm, she often finds that it’s not quite ...
Where does the world stand on human germline gene editing?
In a still ongoing on-line poll, readers of the Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell blog show a pattern of consistently favoring a moratorium ...
Is free will an illusion? Genes may determine more than you think
Whenever you read stories about identical twins separated at birth, they tend to follow the template set by the most ...
Protein illuminates gene expression, may explain how tumors form
Scientists at York University in Toronto report that they discovered how living beings can keep gene expression in check. They ...
Head trauma linked to severe neurological problems for professional football players
The types of brain damage that can occur as a result of being a professional football player have received increased ...
SynBio is fast lane to entrepreneurial high tech opportunities
Software development used to be the only low barrier entry point to the high tech-sector, but now is the time ...
NY Times article sparks call for greater ethical awareness in science journalism
Major media, New York Times included, have a history of hyping up what turned out to be erroneous claims linking complex ...
‘The Dress’ debate rages on: 23andMe tackling genetics behind illusion
The Internet has finally recovered from the great dress debate of 2015, but genetic testing firm 23andMe is still focused ...
Do out-of-pocket genetic tests work against health care system?
Health insurance companies usually cover certain genetic testing as part of treatment (though they often pay little, if anything, for ...
Microbes, like genes, pass from one generation to next
The mountains of genomic-sequencing data generated by the National Institutes of Health's Human Microbiome Project and recent studies provide strong ...
Your eye may be a window to your moral conscience
People asked to choose between two written moral statements tend to glance more often towards the option they favour, experimental ...
How do we weigh benefits and risks of human gene editing?
Replacing faulty genes in early human embryos and germ cells is within our grasp. Such changes affect DNA in the ...
Is your genetic information safe? Questions emerge over California and other states’ DNA collection programs
Nintey-eight percent of all babies born in the United States have a tiny prick of their blood screened for a few ...
Gold particles provide luminous peek into brain
Light can be used to activate normal, non-genetically modified neurons through the use of targeted gold nanoparticles, report scientists from ...
Unlocking healing powers of the ‘neuroplastic’ brain: Norman Doidge on why ancient faith healers may have been right
Organizational anthropologist and new GLP contributing writer addresses the 'mysteries of the mind'--how the natural plasticity of the brain can ...
Why human pheromone myth persists despite lack of scientific evidence
Every year around Valentine's Day, there is a rash of stories in the news about sexy smells and pheromones. You ...
Technology is here: Using gene editing to prevent cancer
If anyone had devised a way to create a genetically engineered baby, I figured George Church would know about it ...
For some pregnant women, prenatal genetic test results in cancer diagnosis
MaterniT21 PLUS was the first noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) to hit the market, in October 2011, and Sequenom has sold ...
Anus is no laughing matter: How unlikely organ shaped animal evolution
The anus is one of the most important parts of many animals; an essential structure that changes how an organism’s ...
