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.
Climate change, tourism threaten species conservation in Galápagos Islands
Unesco calls the Galápagos Islands a “living museum and showcase of evolution,” but they are much more than that. The ...
Mice with human brain cells smarter than peers
What would Stuart Little make of it? Mice have been created whose brains are half human. As a result, the ...
UK approves 23andMe test banned in US
The UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says the 23andMe spit test, which is designed to give details ...
Bio-hack makes vaginas smell like peaches? Controversy over probiotic supplement
Austen Heinz and Gilad Gome, of biotech start-ups Cambrian Genomics and Personalized Probiotics, announced at November's DEMO conference, "New Tech Solving ...
Single-embryo IVF proves safer, but much costlier than multiple births
In 2004, Danielle Decrette went in for in vitro fertilization. It wasn’t her first time—she and her husband had a ...
Skeletal remains confirmed to be Richard III, raise questions about royal lineage
Analysis of DNA from Richard III has thrown up a surprise: evidence of infidelity in his family tree. Scientists who ...
Why did humans evolve to drink alcohol?
Human ancestors may have begun evolving the knack for consuming alcohol about 10 million years ago, long before modern humans ...
First ever gene therapy drug comes at high price
The Western world's first gene therapy drug is set to go on sale in Germany with a 1.1 million euro ...
Interview with FDA on dubious direct-to-consumer stem cell practices
I requested an interview with the FDA to cover the key pressing issues in this direct-to-consumer stem cell interventions. I ...
Are we Martians? DNA survives entry into Earth’s atmosphere–Are planets source of life?
Exposed to the high temperatures of rapid transit through the upper atmosphere, DNA, the hereditary material in all life, survives ...
Unravelling Ebola via early detection
Could monitoring the genetic activity of white blood cells be the key to catching Ebola before it becomes symptomatic and ...
Doctor, parents, or future child: Who has rights to an embryo’s genome?
Geneticist Razib Khan's decision to obtain the whole genome sequence of his partner's fetus in utero shows us that genomics ...
Revolutionary bioengineered trachea transplants under investigation
One of Europe’s most prestigious medical universities, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, has launched two investigations into the clinical procedures ...
Functional enzymes created from synthetic DNA
Experts say they have achieved a scientific milestone - creating enzymes out of artificial genetic material that they made in ...
Of mice and men: Comparing genetics raises new questions about reliability of rodent studies
The laboratory mouse really lies at the foundation of numerous life science studies, but is it an appropriate model in ...
Massive genetics research facility tackles Ebola
An old two-story brick building in a shabby part of town, formerly a distribution center for Budweiser beer, is now ...
Paleolithic diet advocates find no support from genetics
We still hear and read a lot about how a diet based on what our Stone Age ancestors ate may ...
DNA structure co-discoverer James Watson to sell Nobel Prize amid backlash against racial remarks
James Watson, the famed molecular biologist and co-discoverer of DNA, is putting his Nobel Prize up for auction. This sad ...
Prostate screenings may lead to cancer-causing therapy
In 1970 I discovered the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, which is now the most widely used tool in prostate screenings ...
Teens’ brains: Social processing fails when they hear mom’s criticism
We all know that teen-parent relations can be a tricky business. Now neuroscientists from several leading US universities think they’ve ...
Petri dish spinal cord grown from stem cells
Most efforts to grow tissues and organs rely on biodegradable scaffolds. When ‘seeded’ with a patient’s stem cells, these scaffolds ...
Your dog’s body language shows whether he hears your command
If you are worried that your dog is not paying attention to what you are saying simply look at where ...
Electrotherapy appears to have benefits, but how does it affect the brain?
Stimulating the brain with electricity improves working memory, mental maths,focused attention, creativity and could help treat depression. You can even ...
Animals steal antibiotic genes from microbes
Life on this planet has existed for at least 3.5 billion years. For most of that time, it was microscopic ...
Genetics may explain why many near Fukushima nuclear disaster unaffected by radiation exposure
People fear the effects or radiation, particularly in the aftermath of nuclear disasters, but not all the health news after ...
Sorry Dr. Oz and Jenny McCarthy: More scientific proof vaccines, GMOs don’t cause autism
Despite the loud voices of disinformation, the scientific community has overwhelmingly agreed that there is no causal link between vaccines ...
How missing genes can lead to novel cures
Ten years ago, scientists discovered that some people are naturally missing working copies of a gene known as PCSK9. The ...
