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.
Steven Pinker on CRISPR bioethical constraints and critics: ‘Get out of the way’
Professor Steven Pinker of Harvard has been one of the most outspoken advocates for more gas and less brakes in ...
Ethnic groups fear of personal genomics could hurt disenfranchised communities
A decade ago, biologist Ting Wu saw a need to promote education and interest in genetics among consumers, as well ...
Sneaky monkey ‘hook-ups’ give peek into primate cognition
Just how much monkey business is there in monkey sex? In groups with alpha males, monkeys lower on the totem ...
Tiny petri dish ‘organoids’ aren’t perfect, but show big promise
It was an otherwise normal day in November when Madeline Lancaster realized that she had accidentally grown a brain. For ...
Sorry, Paleo-dieters: Big human brain needs carbs to evolve
A new study, co-written by researchers from the University of Sydney, challenges the belief that meat deserves all the credit [for ...
Can our body’s immune system become cancer-fighting machine?
Monash University researchers have discovered the way in which a common blood cancer thrives by concealing itself from the body’s ...
Legos and Mark Ruffalo explain promises and perils of synthetic biology
Synthetic biology is proving to be one of the most promising areas of science. So far, it's given us a source of ...
Artificial blood vessels synthesized to resist clotting
Researchers from ITMO University in Russia say they have developed artificial blood vessels that reportedly are not susceptible to blood ...
Planned Parenthood offers mobile app for at-home STD test
Planned Parenthood won't allow their mission to fall behind. Knowing the future of their success in keeping men and women ...
Earliest Americans looked European, but genes tell more complicated story
Before the Europeans came, the Americas were settled by three waves of people from northeast Asia: the oldest wave beginning ...
New Ebola vaccine may reshape regulation of clinical drug trials
When Ebola broke out in West Africa in December 2013, triggering the largest-ever epidemic of the disease, there was no ...
Bees, breastfeeding and epigenetics: Can nutrition alter our genes?
What a bee eats can determine Queen Bee status. Although our eating habits may not deliver us a royal life, ...
Devious defecating: How ‘mystery pooper’ case launched debate on genetic privacy
A recent lawsuit decided in U.S. district court in Atlanta, in which the case of a mystery pooper has real ...
Debating perils and promise of gene editing
“Crap!” That was the first word out of Kevin Esvelt’s mouth as he scanned a paper published in Science in March. The work ...
Should doctors have authority to decide gender of intersex babies?
Roughly one in every 2,000 babies in the U.S. are born with a range of traits that fall somewhere along the ...
Why haven’t bioethicists come to aid of Freddie Gray?
When the news of Freddie Gray’s death became public, I was greeted by a surprising but familiar bioethical silence. Surprising ...
CDC requests funding from Congress to fight antibiotic resistance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that illnesses and deaths from antibiotic resistance will rise in the U.S. unless ...
Human brain: ‘Squishy machine with chemical gears and switches’
The fields of behavioral and psychiatric genetics – which try to parse out how our genes affect what we do ...
Latin America leads genetic conservation effort to protect biodiversity
A recently published special issue of the Journal of Heredity focuses on case studies of real-world applications of conservation genetics in Latin ...
Health not all about genetics: More focus on lifestyle needed
Much of the current research on treating disease and staying healthy has focused on our genetic makeup – from the ...
Mutations that cause infertility detected through new genotyping strategy
Cornell researchers have developed an experimental strategy to identify infertility-causing mutations found in human populations. These mutations are known as single nucleotide ...
Mitochondrial dysfunction may play role in heart failure
While all cells in the body rely on metabolic pathways that take place within the mitochondria, the cells of some ...
Sci-Fi suspended animation: Not the same as cryonics but might save your life
Surgical research into hypothermia, long fodder for sci-fi movies, may yet reach the point of finding ways to preserve people ...
Micro device gives doctors peek into brain tissue during surgery
A dipstick inserted into the brain can check its energy levels, just like checking oil levels in a car. The ...
East meets west: How biotechnology accelerates shrinking of global economic divide
If current economic growth trends persist, the “great divergence” between Western Europe and East and South Asia in per capita ...
New gene test aims to put end to doping in sports
Athletics is under a cloud of suspicion. Analysis of a leaked report from the International Association of Athletics Federations suggests that results ...
Sex before you’re born: Early organism, ancient human cousin, had kinky mating rituals
Until now, little was known about the biology of Fractofusus, which lived in the ocean 565 million years ago. But new research ...
