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.
Measles virus’s high transmissibility further stresses importance of vaccination
In its bulletin the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC said that a toddler traveling from India gave a Minneapolis man measles when the ...
Antibiotics may exert long-lasting effects on gut microbiome
Even short pulses of widely used antibiotics can lead to long-term development changes in mouse pups, including increased body mass ...
Government needs proper advisory committee to make ethical decisions in genetics policy
I served on the Human Genetics Commission (HGC) as a lay member from 2006 to 2012. If there's one thing that ...
Chimera alert? Myths and facts of human-non-human animal hybrids in medicine
Science is making leaps and bounds creating part human and part non-human animal tissues and organs. The applications are medical, ...
X and Y chromosomes locked in evolutionary battle of the sexes
New DNA sequencing data reinforce the notion that the X and Y chromosomes, which determine biological sex in mammals, are ...
Are we ready to genetically modify humans to eliminate heritable diseases?
The application of transgenic technology to medicine is rarely discussed. Much of the reason, I think, is that many people ...
Researchers look into animal genomes in search of causes of human diseases
Precision medicine still struggles with a basic problem: understanding how genomic context can amplify or mute the effects of isolated mutations ...
New gene test makes earlier pancreatic cancer detection possible
Researchers have discovered a protein encoded by the glypican-1 (GPC1) gene present on cancer exomes that may be used as part ...
Do men and women experience pain the same way?
Do women and men experience chronic pain differently? A new study suggests there may be sex differences when it comes ...
Disinfecting equipment helps prevent spread of infection at the gym
In addition to water bottles, disinfectant spray bottles have become commonplace in many athletic facilities. The routine is simple to ...
Split over human germline modification illustrates idealogical divide between Chinese and Western science
China is spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually in an effort to become a leader in biomedical research, building scores ...
Dolezal delusion: Scientists challenge claim there’s no biological basis to racial differences
The saga of Rachel Dolezal, who recently resigned as president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the NAACP after it ...
Is pre-puberty too young to consider sex reassignment therapy?
Gender confusion, known medically as gender identity disorder, affects children of both sexes but boys much more so, at least ...
Congress debates blocking federal support for embryonic genome editing, introducing religious oversight
The U.S. House of Representatives is wading into the debate over whether human embryos should be modified to introduce heritable ...
Livestock, pets increasingly bred with modified genes
Genetically modified crops are so widespread it's hard to imagine civilization without them. Genetically modified animals are also more common ...
Teen boy checklist: Graduate high school, freeze sperm, go to college
A UK bioethicist urges young men to freeze sperm so their kids won’t run a higher risk of inheriting genetic ...
Humans evolved across Africa and hybridized creating diversity
Homo sapiens appeared on the African landscape some 200,000 years ago. While scientists have long imagined eastern Africa as a ...
iPhone app employed to study specific health needs of LGBT community
We don't know as much as we'd like about the role sexual orientation and gender identity play in health and ...
Kennewick Man’s genome to solve long dispute over remains
The genome of a famous 8,500-year-old North American skeleton, known as Kennewick Man, shows that he is closely related to ...
Flood of federal insurance money leads to growing fraud among some DNA testing firms
Dr. Scott Wilson often participated in medical studies, so the one being proposed by the New Orleans laboratory Renaissance RX ...
Human ‘organs-on-chips’ could accelerate personalized medicine, eliminate animal testing
Tiny tubes emerge from a small transparent block, pumping imperceptible amounts of fluid and air to and fro. It looks ...
Forensic DNA testing not as reliable as most people believe
In the three decades since DNA emerged as a forensic tool, courts have rarely been skeptical about its power. When ...
Are we nearing the end of antibiotics?
The antibiotic era isn’t actually very old. It begins, depending on how picky you are, with Alexander Fleming’s accidental recognition of ...
New genome mapping technique can explain tuberculosis susceptibility
The fight against tuberculosis (TB) has been extended through the use of a genetic mapping technique called admixture mapping. This ...
Coral reefs may still be saved by heat-resistance genes and reversing climate change
Coral reefs still have some fight left in them. In the face of climate change, recent discoveries are giving us ...
Epic FBI DNA database may reveal private health information
Database behind nearly all DNA-based forensic investigations may also have our health information. Or not. Should we be concerned? ...
CRISPR’s potential in gene therapy shadowed by concerns over ethical use
Tracy Antonelli and her three daughters suffer from thalassemia, a blood disorder that saps their strength, leaves them anemic, and ...
