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.
Is cancer brought on by genes, environment or simply bad luck?
The chances are that, if you follow news articles about cancer, you’ll have come across headlines like “Most Cancers Caused ...
Court overturns EU ban on stem cell patents
Today the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled that human embryonic stem cell patents could be allowed if organisms can't ...
What’s the genetic ancestry of average Americans?
In the United States, almost no one can trace their ancestry back to just one place. And for many, the ...
What world has learned about limits of science and medicine from Ebola epidemic
People in affected communities were understandably fearful; some were distrustful of health workers and resisted going to treatment centers, where ...
Researchers teach computer to interpret genome with video game-based technology
Sequencing of the human genome in 2003 was a monumental achievement. But it left us with more questions than answers: ...
Does neuroscience need to revise how it looks at the brain?
How much of our brain do we actually need? A number of stories have appeared in the news in recent ...
Only two percent of genome codes for genes, so what’s the rest for?
The so-called “streetlight effect” has often fettered scientists who study complex hereditary diseases. The term refers to an old joke ...
Can chemicals evolve? Testing recipes for the origin of life
Scientists are testing the ability of simple chemicals to evolve under the guidance of a robot. Could this be one ...
New method for clearing donated blood of viruses gains FDA approval
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first system that could be used by blood banks to destroy ...
Can mindfulness meditation protect your DNA?
“I think, therefore I am” is perhaps the most familiar one-liner in western philosophy. Even if the stoners, philosophers and ...
Searching for messages from ET in life’s Genetic Code
Did human life begin on Planet Earth or was life seeded by another civilization in a distant galaxy? As proposterous ...
What Charles Darwin got wrong
It’s hard to overstate just how brilliant and huge an idea Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was ...
Why we see faces in inanimate objects
Most people are obsessed with faces. We see faces everywhere, even in things that are most definitely not faces. The most ...
Harvard stem cell researchers challenge accusations of scientific misconduct
Two embattled and highly controversial stem cell researchers are suing the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School for ...
Reconstructing ancestors’ genomes using DNA data from descendants
David Speegle was a preacher in Alabama in the 1800s. Apparently he was very serious about the Bible's charge to ...
Environmentalists fumble concerns over ‘racial mixing’ and biodiversity
One of the often overlooked historical oddities in the development of the environmental movement in the United States was its ...
Can your dog really understand what you’re saying?
Sometimes it may seem like your dog doesn’t want to listen. But in our study, however, we’ve found that he ...
Ebola survivors’ blood might hold key to a cure
The first clinical trials are starting in West Africa to test whether transfusing patients with plasma or blood donated by ...
Dangers of legal genetic discrimination in Canada
Protecting members of our society from discrimination based on the colour of their skin, ethnicity, or ancestry is a fundamental ...
How did humans learn to speak? Ask the birds
Songbirds stutter, babble when young, become mute if parts of their brains are damaged, learn how to sing from their ...
What will the future of brain science bring?
The more scientists learn about the brain, the more questions arise and the more challenging the quest to understand human ...
After a decade and a half, stem cells remain a controversial topic
A couple of things helped lessen the [stem cell] controversy. By the late 2000s, researchers discovered other ways to create cells ...
How accurate are non-invasive prenatal screening procedures?
In the past few years, "non-invasive" prenatal screening tests have flooded the market, which claim to be able to predict ...
DNA is tough enough to survive space travel
Could the blueprint for life have come from space? Yes, according to an experiment carried out by molecular biologist Cora ...
Gene Therapy 3.0: Rise and fall and rise again of gene therapy–For real this time?
Gene therapy is seeing a renaissance after a long period of skepticism about its failed potential. What are the new ...
Antibiotic resistance may be bigger problem than previously thought
A project commissioned by the British government has released estimates of the near-future global toll of antibiotic resistance that are ...
Who controls your actions: you or your brain?
Imagine that Brian promises to drive you to the airport but never shows up, and you miss your flight. When ...
