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.
How to stop malaria-spreading mosquitoes? If approved, gene editing could do it
Each year, 263 million people get malaria. But from the parasite's perspective, infecting humans is harder than you might think, ...
‘Three parent babies’ aren’t new. Here is what science has accomplished so far
[E]ight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that involves DNA from three people ...
Climate change is pushing more and more species towards extinction. Gene editing may be a savior
Gene editing technologies, such as those used in agriculture and de-extinction efforts, can be repurposed to provide what an international ...
Universal cancer vaccine? mRNA technology is promising
An experimental mRNA vaccine that supercharges existing cancer treatments could be laying the groundwork for a “universal” cancer vaccine, according ...
Could AI avatars replace some frontline healthcare workers? That’s Dr. Oz’s plan
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), spent much of his first ...
Wombs vs. Eggs: Why humans and other mammals grow their offspring internally while most other animals don’t
Female mammals house the mechanisms over which eggs (and sperm) are used for reproduction inside their bodies, while amphibians, reptiles, ...
Viewpoint: Time to shelve the scientifically outdated and misleading Precautionary Principle
Both regulations and toxic tort decisions, being guided by an antiquated Precautionary Principle, routinely seek to lower exposure to potential ...
Accusing them of being “woke” for endorsing diversity in medicine, RFK, Jr. plans to dismiss all 16 members of cancer screening advisory panel
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel ...
‘True intelligence’: What is AI ‘height dimension’ and its reach for human-like higher level thinking
[A]rtificial intelligence systems could truly become more like human brains, and some researchers believe they know how: AI design must ...
Genetic tests can now predict childhood obesity, especially in whites—and could be employed to sharply curtail it
What if we could prevent people from developing obesity? The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population ...
6 (relatively) recent examples proving that humans are still evolving
[H]uman evolution hasn’t paused for a coffee break – it’s been running at full speed, reshaping our species in ways ...
Viewpoint: How Greta Thunberg’s doomsday degrowth messaging dangerously fanned hopelessness in younger generations
After a movie at her school about garbage in the oceans left her in tears as a teenager, Greta Thunberg ...
‘No,’ the patient said as he pulled his knees to his chest. Breaking federal law, some hospitals retrieve organs from still-alive potential donors
The head of an organ procurement group told a House panel ... he would be "disturbed” if he had witnessed ...
No flora or flamingos: How the green business movement is destroying the environment while claiming to save it
As the world transitions to more renewable energy sources, the demand for it has soared. In 2021, about 95,000 tonnes ...
Viewpoint: Why people do not accept the scientific fact of evolution
If the theory of evolution is so profound and proven, why doesn’t everyone accept it as true? ... Evolution is ...
Full-scale body scans of organs, vessels and bones could revolutionize disease detection
Scientists expect to gain unprecedented insights into human ageing and the earliest signs of disease after scanning 100,000 people from ...
4 million deaths, 10 million cases anticipated: Trump administration has dismantled decades of progress in reducing AIDS infections and deaths
On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid. He went on ...
AI backlash: Fears that artificial intelligence is replacing humans tops list of emerging concerns
Before ChatGPT’s release, around 38 percent of US adults were more concerned than excited about increased AI usage in daily ...
AI and psychosis: Do we need safeguards to protect vulnerable users from developing unhealthy relationships with their computers?
People are forming strong emotional bonds with chatbots, sometimes exacerbating feelings of loneliness. And others are having psychotic episodes after ...
Viewpoint: ‘Inciting personal injury litigation’: UN’s cancer hazard agency stumbles again in classifying gasoline as dangerously carcinogenic, echoing glyphosate fiasco
In a move that will boost the spirits of trial lawyers and climate activists the world over, a branch of ...
Viewpoint: MAHA supporters and anti-vaxxers are spreading chemophobia through the mainstream
A broad spectrum of “sunscreen truthers” on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook have peddled the trope that sunscreen causes ...
Challenging RFK. Jr.’s misstatements on aluminum in vaccines: ‘No, the microscopic amounts play no role in autism’
Cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccination during the first 2 years of life did not raise the risk of autism, asthma, ...
Will AI and organoids end the need for animal testing for drug development?
Recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that they are creating a new office, the Office of Research Innovation, ...
Broken smiles: Why have some humans evolved to have crooked teeth
While malocclusions—crowded or misaligned teeth—have been found among our hunter-gatherer ancestors, they appear to be more prevalent in modern populations ...
Viewpoint: Physician challenges RFK, Jr.— ‘Here’s why you’re wrong in scaring people about the hepatitis B vaccine’
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the members of his newly appointed vaccine panel are casting doubt ...
What did a woman in present-day Belgium look like 10,500 years ago? DNA draws us a picture
With DNA extracted from the body’s remains, researchers have reconstructed the face of a woman who lived approximately 10,500 years ...
‘Three parent baby’ medical first: Male sperm and eggs from two women combined to create an embryo free from inherited mitochondrial disease
Mitochondrial disorders can cause serious health problems, including paralysis, heart failure, brain damage, strokes and blindness. ... The disorders are ...
