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.
What goes into the flu vaccine?
All flu vaccines start with flu viruses: genetic material packaged in an envelope of proteins and fats, studded with yet ...
Genes may aid in alcoholism recovery
There may be a new method to help those recovering from alcoholism. Scientists have discovered genetic markers that may help ...
Gene databases help in prescribing therapies to cancer patients
A major California university hospital is exploring ways to gather and use genetic information gathered from cancer patients, hoping to ...
Fossil unveils new mammalian lineage
Four years ago, while searching for fish fossils on Madagascar, paleontologists came upon what proved to be a well-preserved cranium ...
Pominent US biologist lectures UK Parliament: ‘Three-parent’ IVF too uncertain to be safe
This open letter was written by Paul Knoepfler, associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, the Genome ...
Two Ebola vaccines currently being tested for future use
Two experimental vaccines against Ebola are currently being tested to see whether they are safe to use in people, and ...
Courtroom to test next generation DNA analysis
When DNA evidence began appearing in U.S. courtrooms in the late 1980s, it was heralded as the greatest leap forward ...
Getting older isn’t always bad for brains
For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed ...
How many scents can a person smell? 10 to one trillion
Earlier this year, a paper in Science attempted to answer the question: how many smells can we actually smell? At ...
Ethics issue aside, freezing human eggs may be dangerous
When news broke several weeks ago that tech giants Apple and Facebook were offering female employees elective egg freezing benefits, ...
Computer model replicates complex networks behind evolution
You inhabit something of a miracle, in engineering terms. Your body consists of trillions of cells, woven together into something ...
Low oxygen on Earth delayed evolution of early animal life
Animals were slow to evolve on Earth. While the first life forms emerged about a billion and a half years ago, ...
Stem cells in breast milk might persist throughout life
Breast milk may provide longer-term benefits than previously thought, extending even into adulthood. A study at the University of Western Australia found ...
Telomerator tool paves way for “designer” medicines, nutrients and biofuels
A new synthetic biology tool called "the telomerator" could boost the engineering of an organism's genetic, chemical base-pair structure ...
Gene patents pose challenge to doctors treating genetic disorders
In Canada, doctors are challenging legally-held patents on genes. The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario has taken the case to ...
Is increase in ADHD an artifact of our modern educational system?
One in ten American children will be treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD at some point in their ...
Should have asked Hamlet: Study finding Danish genes foster happiness needs some work
Why a study alleging Danes are happiest and French most grumpy because of their respective gene pool is not worth ...
Biosimilar biotech for medicines can help people and save money
The reality of biotechnology is that in order for novel new drugs to get cheap, they first have to be ...
Targeted antibiotic treatments–What’s on the horizon?
New research is uncovering ways of modifying bacterial enzymes to make future antibiotics more specific - and thus less likely ...
Preventing antibiotic resistance: Bacterial-toxin catcher snatches lethal infections
Antibiotic resistance has become a hot topic. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill some 50,000 in the U.S. and Europe each year but little ...
What is a ‘healthy’ microbiome?
The microbiome is one of the hottest current topics in biology. According to various studies, our gut microbial community may ...
Human genes can replace animal models in ‘knockout’ studies
Scientists are proposing new method of researching genetic disease, which was discussed at the recent American Society of Human Genetics ...
Moving forward in the search for ‘autism genes’
Autism researchers have recently made important strides in figuring out the genetic underpinnings of the disorder. Some results are somewhat discouraging, ...
Gene editing advances raise hopes for hemophilia cure
In a scientifically-based future, researchers will be able to tailor the cure to the patient using genetic modification - by ...
Genetic ‘treasure’ in saliva could spot disease early
Researchers have created a simple saliva test capable of diagnosing diabetes and cancer, and perhaps neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases, at ...
Susceptibility to Ebola has clear genetic underpinnings
Ebola patients show markedly different reactions to the virus. Some survive exposure; others die quickly, while still others experience hemorrhages ...
Biology of politics: Brain scans can identify your political beliefs?
A new study has entered the debate on whether our political beliefs are acquired through logic and reasoning, or if they ...
