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.
Genes linked to breast cancer in East Asian women identified
A genome-wide association study among East Asian women has allowed scientists to identify three new genetic loci (regions) linked to ...
Tuskegee anniversary, bioethics then and now
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was an infamous clinical study that began in 1932, conducted by the Public Health Service at the Tuskegee ...
Looking for a few DNA needles in a million haystacks in the hunt for disease cures
The Resilience Project wants to find people with genes that should cause extremely rare diseases, but who never developed the ...
Does smoking while pregnant harm babies’ DNA?
Pregnant women who smoke don’t just harm the health of their baby—they may actually impair their child’s DNA, according to ...
Temporary mutations may allow organisms to adapt to sudden changes in environment
Scientists from the Duke University School of Medicine say that they discovered that microorganisms can use a temporary silencing of drug targets, ...
Prospects of surviving climate change not so bleak for some species
Scientists believe some species, like the Drosophila birchii rainforest fly, may be able to evolve and adapt to the effects of climate ...
Gene linked to suicide may predict risk, spark pre-emptive treatment
A gene tied to negative thoughts and impulses may lead to a blood test predicting suicide risk, according to researchers ...
Talking about genetic disorders: How much information do we need—or want?
It may be easy to dismiss appeals to scientific literacy as high-minded, idealistic and impractical; but geneticist Morgan Thompson believes ...
Feminist group struggles with defining ‘woman,’ accusations of transphobia
Is the feminist organization "Radfems Respond" falling behind the times by refusing to recognize trans women as female? Growing awareness ...
23andMe obtains NIH grant for genetics research
Home genetics startup 23andMe has secured a $1.4 million two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build ...
Discovery of genetic links to Parkinson’s gives new hope for treatment
A new study led by researchers from the National Institutes of Health details how a state-of-the-art gene chip led to ...
Protein linked to obesity, diabetes risk
A protein that controls when genes are switched on or off plays a key role in specific areas of the ...
Success for new embryonic genetic testing
Doctors in London have reported the first pregnancy in Europe from a new IVF procedure that checks embryos for genetic disorders before they are ...
Will whole-genome sequencing become the norm?
The first thing Debbie Jorde noticed about her newborn daughter was that her arms were bent at unnatural angles. She ...
Stem cells found in nerves of teeth
The soft, living part of the tooth—tooth pulp—is known to contain a small reserve of stem cells. These stem cells, scientists ...
Scientists attempt to determine role of epigenetics in cancer
You could be forgiven for thinking of cancer as a genetic disease. Sure, we know it can be triggered by ...
Surrogacy is global business, but loose laws leave murky situation for all involved
Demand and affordability have forced many potential parents to seek surrogacy through international clinics in India, Thailand and Mexico. But ...
Why can some disadvantageous genes remain in a population?
Some 15 percent of adults suffer from fertility problems, many of these due to genetic factors. This is something of a ...
Epigenetics can drive cancer, may be target for new treatments
The first direct evidence that epigenetics alone -- tweaks to gene expression -- can drive cancer in mice demonstrates that ...
DNA portrait of Puerto Rican ancestry
National Geographic’s Genographic Project researches locations where different groups historically intermixed to create a modern day melting pot. Collaborating with 326 ...
Promise of CRISPR gene editing–and the challenges
Two papers published in the last week were signal events for agricultural genomics. First was the draft of the huge, and ...
Genetic link to neurodegenerative diseases found
Researchers from the Jackson Laboratory say they have pinpointed a mechanism behind neurodegeneration in mice, one that involves a defect in transfer ...
Anti-biotech Center for Genetics and Society exaggerates dangers of gene editing technology
A healthy public debate is emerging over the revolutionary new genetic engineering tool known as CRISPR. Challenging anti-GMO dogma, it's ...
New genetic factors in Parkinson’s found
WASHINGTON: Scientists have identified more than two dozen genetic risk factors involved in Parkinson's disease, including six that had not ...
Google wants to define health using Big Data
Google's getting in on the big-genome-analysis game with the "Baseline Project," which seeks to examine gather information (genomic and otherwise) ...
Feathered dinosaurs may have been more common than previously believed
A new dinosaur species — one with feathers — has been discovered in Russia. The finding could mean that feathers ...
Can scientists save the declining New England cottontail from extinction?
Scientists with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station are working to restore New Hampshire and Maine's only native rabbit after new ...
