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.
No, supplements cannot prevent cancer or even help treat it, and they could even make things worse
As a general statement, when dietary supplements have been studied rigorously in clinical trials, they have not been shown to ...
Viewpoint: With birth rates and populations falling below replacement levels across the globe except in Africa, should governments intervene?
Across much of Europe and North America, fertility lies well below replacement level, with Italy, Spain, and South Korea as ...
Trust in science is cratering in America. Is there a way to restore it?
Although public trust in science is a recent preoccupation for some, it has been a problem for decades in the United States. Republicans began ...
Politicizing science: RFK, Jr.’s FDA rejects review of Moderna’s effective seasonal mRNA flu vaccine
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has refused to review Moderna’s seasonal influenza jab, mRNA-1010, as the shifting vaccine ...
The older you get, the more likely you are to embrace health misinformation
Misinformation has long posed a substantial threat to public health, but it has not been clear who is most at ...
‘Addiction machines’: Social media companies on trial, blamed for epidemic of suicides
The world's largest social media companies have been accused of creating "addiction machines" as a landmark trial began in California ...
Plastic surgeons group rejects gender-transitioning plastic surgery for youth 18 or younger
In a watershed moment, on February 3, 2026, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) issued an official position statement ...
Viewpoint: Is industry disinformation being used to block wind energy development?
Research from Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab, in striking detail, maps a network showing how fossil fuel interests and climate denial ...
The MAGA right’s weird obsession with the slur word ‘retard’
... [A] woman posted a photograph on social media of a purple hat she had knitted .... The cozy scene ...
Viewpoint: What happens if the AI bubble bursts? An anti-modernist skeptic makes his case
If some time in an entirely possible future they come to make a movie about “how the AI bubble burst”, ...
83 children died in Samoa after RFK, Jr. lobbying stopped measles vaccinations, and then he lied about it to Congress, emails show
Over two days of questioning during his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Robert F Kennedy Jr repeated the same answer. He said ...
Non-human animals and even bacteria are prone to spread misinformation
[In 2025], the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued a warning about the dangers of misinformation. Social media platforms are ...
Destructive peddlers of health misinformation: Social media influencers
Social media is awash with influencers vying for our attention so they can profit by selling their courses and hawking ...
Destructive peddlers of health misinformation: Disinformed experts
If you cast your mind back to COVID-19, there was a long line of medical professionals who cashed in during ...
Destructive peddlers of health misinformation: AI chatbots
A study published in the journal Urology examined the accuracy of ChatGPT in responding to questions about urology topics. They ...
Destructive peddlers of health misinformation: Culture wars
In 2019, a landmark paper, called EAT-Lancet, was published. It was written by tens of authors across multiple institutions. The purpose ...
Defeating death: ‘Vitalists’ seek to rebrand the longevity movement
[T]he Vitalist Bay Summit ... hosted various events to explore tools—from drug regulation to cryonics—that might be deployed in the ...
Selling human eggs: The black market is booming in India
Women selling their eggs illegally is an open secret in the Indian fertility industry. Even though the for-profit industry relies ...
Viewpoint—’Stunningly stupid’: RFK, Jr.’s measles non-existent measles containment policy
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. rambled through a long list of topics when he spoke at the White House during [a] ...
Can you Europe turn the tide against climate disinformation?
Climate disinformation is no longer just an obstacle to progress on climate action; it has become a geopolitical and security ...
Viewpoint: 6 bizarre science beliefs and how to address them
We often turn to successful people for advice. Bookstore shelves are heavy with tomes adorned with photos of rich luminaries ...
Viewpoint—‘I love the poorly educated’: Trump is disinvesting in science education and innovation
I love the poorly educated,” Donald Trump once declared. That was back in 2016, during his first presidential campaign. Now, a ...
Viewpoint: The potential dark side of the elitist movement to make the ‘best babies’ possible
There is growing concern that falling fertility rates will lead to economic and demographic catastrophe. The social and political movement ...
Why supplements are (almost always) a waste and often risky
Some people have vitamin or mineral deficiencies and rely on supplements to manage them, said Pieter Cohen, an internist at ...
Dr. Google is being kicked to the curb. Welcome to AI. Will the diagnoses be any better?
For the past two decades, there’s been a clear first step for anyone who starts experiencing new medical symptoms: Look ...
Here’s why RFK, Jr.’s recommended Denmark’s vaccine policy is a lousy—and dangerous–model for the U.S.
... Antoine had no reason to think Isaac had anything more than a routine illness—until staff called an ambulance, for ...
One time weight-loss therapy? Gene therapy could revolutionize the GLP-1 industry, but challenges remain
A cardiologist by training, [Harith] Rajagopalan believes there’s a better way to harness the benefits of GLP-1 drugs: a gene ...
