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.
What will the human race look like centuries into the future? Here are three possibilities, and one is chilling
Everything around us seems to be changing at breakneck speed. Twenty years ago, smartphones were niche products. Twenty years before ...
Viewpoint: It’s grim. U.S. science after a year of RFK, Jr. and Trump
More than 7,800 research grants terminated or frozen. Some 25,000 scientists and personnel gone from agencies that oversee research. Proposed ...
Viewpoints: Republicans lean into MAHA ‘wellness agenda’ to prevent midterm losses as Trump’s popularity totters
When a "Make America Healthy Again" summit was held at the posh Waldorf Astoria in Washington, the line of attendees ...
As U.S. measles cases surge to 2400+ since Trump took office, RFK, Jr. official proclaims ‘not really’ a concern
Ongoing measles outbreaks in multiple parts of the country are threatening the United States’ status as a nation that has ...
Beyond pleasure: What dopamine really does in the brain
The cerebral cortex is our brain's universal machine of understanding. It builds a model of reality for us and then ...
Breakthrough disruptive technology ‘flops’: What can we learn?
In some cases, the vision behind a breakthrough was prescient but the technology of the day was not the best ...
Viewpoint: ‘Will Elon Musk face any consequences for Grok, his sexual harassment bot?’
For more than a week ..., anyone could go online and use a tool owned and promoted by the world’s ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr. and the future of children’s vaccines—Less science guidance, more parental gut opinions
For decades, Americans have looked to the federal government for advice on which vaccines their children should get and when ...
As abortion pills face new politically motivated legal threats, a new study defends the FDA’s evidence-based science
The abortion pill mifepristone is one of the most politically contentious medications in America, one increasingly targeted by anti-abortion activists ...
Yet another study rebukes RFK. Jr.’s false claim that Tylenol (acetaminophen/paracetamol) use can lead to autism
US President Donald Trump said in September there had been a "meteoric rise" in cases of autism and that Tylenol, ...
Viewpoint: Activist disinformation blurs consumers ability to separate ideology from genuine health risks
Vaccines are getting American media attention now that Republicans are engaging in misinformation the way Democrats did for decades, but ...
Microplastics are invading our brain and bodies? New research says the claims in most studies are wrong and some are a “joke”
High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say ...
RFK, Jr. quietly undermining science consensus that cellphones are safe
The Food and Drug Administration quietly removed webpages saying cellphones aren’t dangerous as the Department of Health and Human Services ...
Viewpoint: Trump’s support for nuclear energy is a win for the climate
A president whose pandemic response was viewed by many as incompetent at best and brazen denial at worst spearheaded the ...
Viewpoint: Trump’s FDA has been corrupted into a bargaining chip for White House deal-making
For decades, the Food and Drug Administration was the undisputed global gold standard for regulation. While other nations might approve drugs faster or ...
Coalition of medical expert organizations formed to counteract RFK, Jr.’s rejectionist recommendations
Six leading medical organizations plan to ask the courts to throw out revisions to the childhood vaccination schedule .... Mr ...
RFK, Jr. adds two vaccine and antidepressant rejectionists to U.S. vaccine advisory panel
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed two new members to the Centers for Disease Control and ...
Viewpoint: COVID vaccines caused ‘turbo cancers’? MAHA disinformers revive long-debunked claims
... I saw a post on X, the disinformation hellsite formerly known as Twitter, by eminent oncologist and cancer researcher ...
Vaccines do more than prevent disease, especially for older adults
Let’s be clear. The primary reason to be vaccinated against shingles is that two shots provide 90 percent protection against a painful, ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.’s next attack in his war against science—Restricting antidepressants
While his war on vaccines may be getting more attention, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is coming for another ...
Is cannabis medically useless? The data and patient experience sometime diverge
“There is a gap between what science can confidently tell us and what patients are experiencing in their day-to-day lives,” ...
Viewpoint: Do transgirls have a legal right to compete in school athletic competitions?
Does a biological boy who transitions to become a girl have a constitutional right to compete in girls’ sports? Twenty-seven ...
5 provocative questions about how AI might shape our future
If 2025 has been the year of AI hype, 2026 might be the year of AI reckoning. Its powerful capabilities ...
Viewpoint: The ‘utter bullshit’ of functional medicine
[T]here must be something specific that Functional Medicine teaches, right? Well, no. I looked hard to find a single medical ...
Are multivitamins dangerous for children?
"Parents risk poisoning their children when they give them multivitamins," [Susanne Bügel, professor of nutrition at the University of Copenhagen] ...
‘We’re genetically predisposed to believing our eyes’: AI deepfakes supercharging misinformation
For years, people could largely trust, at least instinctively, that seeing was believing. Now, what’s fake often looks real and ...
Study shows AI chatbots are incredibly effective at creating false memories among users
An experimental study in the United States found that having a conversational AI insert slight misinformation into conversations with users ...
