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.
Could swimming ‘microbots’ smaller than a grain of sand one day deliver drugs and destroy pathogens in the bloodstream? We’re one step closer
Tiny robots that swim through our blood to deliver drugs or hunt down pathogens that can think for themselves ...
Tapeworm brain infestation? That’s what happened after one man ate undercooked bacon for years on end
A man in the US with a history of consuming undercooked “soft” bacon for years has been found to have ...
Can AI accurately guess your sexual orientation by scanning your brain?
A recent study investigated whether sexual orientation can be reliably predicted, based solely on a brief five-minute brain scan ...
Mythos and logos: Are people programmed to ‘need’ religion?
Justification systems: science is one, religion can be thought of as another, while humans are ultimately justifying creatures ...
Brain scans reveal how parental education and income affect kids’ development
Researchers have studied images of the brains of 10,000 American children finding parental education and income impact brain development ...
Generative AI’s energy-gobbling needs may pose a climate change problem
This is the first time the carbon emissions caused by using an AI model for different tasks have been calculated ...
Person in Texas contracts virulent strain of bird flu after contact with cattle, in second known US case
A person in Texas has been diagnosed with a highly virulent strain of bird flu, the first such case since ...
Challenging bioethical taboos: Chinese scientist He Jiankui who modified the genes of human embryos to protect them from HIV reopens his lab
Chinese researcher He Jiankui revealed to the Mainichi Shimbun that he has resumed research on human embryo genome editing ...
$4.25 million: World’s most expensive drug targets genetic disease that disables and kills toddlers. Will anyone pay for it?
There is a new most expensive drug ever—a gene therapy that costs more than the average person will earn in ...
Multiple companies scrambling to develop brain-computer interfaces that restore movement for severely injured patients
Device was temporarily implanted in a patient, moving it one step closer toward becoming a standard of care ...
Risk of breast cancer coming back? AsymMirai AI compares breasts to more accurately predict cancer 5-years out
New way of using AI can predict breast cancer 5 years in advance — and unlike previous AI models, we ...
Mystery ‘Havana flu’ dizziness linked to Russian sonic weaponry
A mysterious illness that has affected US diplomats in recent years has been linked to a Russian intelligence unit ...
How well does genetic screening for talents and traits work? Beethoven’s DNA suggests he was unlikely to be musical
Analysis of Beethoven’s DNA has revealed that he had a low genetic predisposition for beat synchronization, an ability related to ...
Kate Middleton’s cancer disclosure underscores troubling rise of disease in younger adults
Cancer is mostly diagnosed in those over 65 and in the U.S., only about 12% of cancers are diagnosed among ...
Slowing Alzheimer’s: Promising treatment evaluates using blood transfusions from young people
Norwegian researchers are to test a possible new treatment using blood from young people to treat Alzheimer's disease ...
Studying chimpanzees illuminates how speech evolved in humans
Scientists compared parts of the brain that correlate to speech in humans and primates to understand how speech evolved in ...
Weight gain, infertility, depression and anxiety: Online misinformation abounds about birth control — prompting women to forgo contraception
Search for “birth control” on TikTok or Instagram and a cascade of misleading videos vilifying hormonal contraception appear: Young women blaming their weight gain on ...
Do COVID victims suffer permanent memory loss? Conclusion of a 100,000-patient study is under scrutiny
In a recent study, researchers conclude that those who tested positive for Covid-19 reported worse memory than those who tested ...
‘Diet weed’: More than 10% of high school seniors take ‘loophole’ legal drug delta-8 THC. What are the consequences?
Delta-8 THC, sometimes referred as "diet weed" or "weed lite," is unregulated in many states thanks to a loophole in ...
Ancient African shrub ibogaine causes psychedelic hallucinations — and can reduce anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Why is it restricted in the US?
Stephen Jones suffers from a traumatic brain injury, but a psychedelic called ibogaine eased his suffering ...
Humans and whales are the only animals to go through menopause. What can this tell us about aging and fertility?
Just five species of whales with teeth are the only others known to have females that regularly live long after ...
First Neuralink brain implant patient plays computer chess with his mind
Elon Musk’s Neuralink introduced the first patient to receive its brain-computer implant can now move a computer cursor using the ...
World’s first genetically engineered pig kidney transplant into living patient is major step towards addressing global organ shortage
A biotechnology company developing human-compatible engineered organs announced the first ever transplantation ...
White and brown bears: Are hybrid ‘pizzly bears’ better suited for our rapidly warming world?
Could beige-coloured hybrid bears bread from polar bears and brown bears potentially evolve into a superior type of bear? ...
Preserved human brains: 4,400 date back nearly 12,000 years
A recent study has demonstrated that human brains can survive the test of time far better than previously believed ...
Extraterrestrial musings: Does Jupiter’s ice-coated moon Europa host life?
Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, Europa, has captivated planetary scientists interested in the geophysics of alien worlds ...
Making human eggs out of skin cells could change everything for infertile mothers or same sex parents. Here’s where the technology is today
New procedure could overcome common forms of infertility and help people have children who share their DNA ...
