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.
Edinburgh scientists make stem cell breakthrough
The following is an excerpt. Scientists in Edinburgh have taken a vital step forward in understanding how cells can be ...
Oswald T Avery: unsung hero of genetic science
The following is an excerpt. Seventy years ago, at about midnight on 26 May 1943, a slight, balding man in ...
Gene therapy helps muscular dystrophy patients breathe easier
The following is an excerpt. Children with a rare form of muscular dystrophy called Pompe disease often spend their days ...
Studying the human genome, ten and counting
The following is an editorial summary. In this interview, Eric D. Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, ...
Cacao genome sequenced
The following is an excerpt. The genome of the most commonly cultivated cacao plant in the world is now sequenced ...
The epigenetics of monogomy in prarie voles
The following is an edited excerpt. The mechanism behind prairie voles’ lifelong social monogamy is partly epigenetic, according to a ...
The threat of genome theft
The following is an excerpt. Most of us occasionally worry that some online mishap, like a misreading of Facebook’s latest ...
Why do identical twins end up having such different lives?
The following is an editorial summary. How can identical twins--individuals who have the same genes and who grew up in ...
Mending bones with magnetic stem cells
The following is an excerpt. Scientists have developed an injectable gel containing stem cells that could be used to repair ...
Drug-resistant avian flu strains emerge
The following is an edited excerpt. The H7N9 strain of bird flu circulating in China appears to have easily developed ...
Will Supreme Court decide companies can own human genes?
The following is an edited excerpt. The question before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether Myriad Genetics, a Utah-based biotech ...
Giant genome study finds tiny links between genetics and schooling
The following is an excerpt. Everyone wants an easy answer to the big questions about genetics—is there a gay gene? ...
Anti-malaria vaccine developed in Japan
The following is an edited excerpt. A team of Japanese researchers say they have developed a vaccine that cuts the ...
Centenarian genetics: The search for longevity-enhancing biotech
People who live past age 100 develop diseases at much later ages than the rest of us. Scientists are working ...
The complexity of cancer genetics
To develop cancer-specific drugs, we need to distinguish cancer cells from healthy cells -- but it’s not so easy ...
Synthetic blood: First human trials to take place in Scotland
Researchers in Scotland have received the go-ahead to set up a facility to manufacture synthetic blood from stem cells, bringing ...
Gene delivery via magnetic nanoparticles
The following is an excerpt. Stent angioplasty saves lives, but there often are side effects and complications related to the ...
Angelina Jolie inadvertently highlights key question of gene patents
The following is an excerpt. Angelina Jolie's recent double mastectomy was obviously a very radical decision. It is unusual for ...
Synthetic blood trial liscenced in Scotland
The following is an excerpt. Researchers based at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) in Edinburgh hope to use ...
Discovery of liquid mammoth blood fuels cloning hopes
A remarkably intact 10,000-year-old female mammoth buried in Siberian ice raises hopes of cloning the extinct beast ...
Fetal programming: Mom’s weight changes baby’s genes
The following is an excerpt. Of the many powers mothers wield, few are more extraordinary than the power to nudge ...
Genetic tests: Should doctors tell all?
The following is an edited excerpt. In March, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) released a report ...
California: Conflicts come to light at stem cell institute
The following is an excerpt. With a new chairman, Jonathan Thomas, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine claims it has turned a page. Thomas ...
Honey bee navigation gene identified
The following is an excerpt. In a new study, researchers report that a regulatory gene known to be involved in ...
Camel genome decoded
The following is an edited excerpt. Researchers have sequenced the genome of a Bactrian camel named Mozart, laying down the ...
Efforts to revive extinct species miss the point
The following is an excerpt. “We will get woolly mammoths back.” So vowed environmentalist Stewart Brand at the TED conference ...
Warding off the flu with gene therapy
The following is an excerpt. In 2009, a global collaboration of scientists, public health agencies, and companies raced to make ...
