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.
Loneliness epidemic: As we become more and more isolated, tech companies search for solutions
Despite being more connected than ever, we're pretty lonely right now. So lonely, in fact, that the World Health Organization ...
Consciousness: More than nothing is going on in the mind of a bees and other animals
In 2022, researchers at the Bee Sensory and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Queen Mary University of London observed bumblebees doing ...
Why are kindergarten vaccination rates falling?
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped [in 2023] and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according ...
Photoacoustic imaging: Newly-developed scanner that produces 3-D images that show our blood vessels
It’s not the famous Star Trek tricorder but it’s close: researchers have developed a hand-held scanner that can generate highly ...
Supercentenarians: What are the limits of human life expectancy?
Life expectancy saw dramatic increases throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, driven by healthier diets, medical advances, and numerous other ...
California’s first plastic bag ban made things worse. Now it’s trying again
Ten years after California approved a plastic bag ban that’s been blamed for making its plastic bag problem worse, the ...
Want to increase the odds of having a boy or a girl? Looking for the genetic underpinnings of sex
Each year, roughly the same numbers of boys and girls are born. But in individual families, some couples have four ...
‘It looks to me like what we would call bullshitting: The ‘smarter’ the AI, the more it cleverly lies
Beware the smart ones: they seem to have all the answers, but can also weave the most convincing lies. It ...
Another step ahead in AI advancement leaves scientists ‘in awe’ by latest ChatGPT model o1
Researchers who helped to test OpenAI’s new large language model, OpenAI o1, say it represents a big step up in ...
Transcranial direct current stimulation — At-home headset that stimulates the brain to alleviate depression is in the works
A headset that can be worn at home to stimulate the brain and treat depression has passed an important research milestone. The tiny ...
Viewpoint: The U.S. Dietary Guidelines are broken. Here’s what needs to be done to fix it.
To address this [chronic disease] crisis, for children and adults alike, our response should be bipartisan. As former members [Janet ...
Why tuition-free medical schools are failing their lofty commitments — and exacerbating health-care disparities
[In 2018], the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, in Manhattan, announced that it would become tuition-free for all ...
555 million years ago: Meet Quaestio who scientists believe may have been Earth’s first mobile animal
Paleontologists have revealed the fossilized remains of a curious creature that is not only one of Earth's oldest animals, but ...
Do lobsters suffer in a pot as it reaches a boil? Can a 12-week-old fetus feel pain? Science address what constitutes sentience
Can artificial intelligence (AI) feel distress? Do lobsters suffer in a pot as it reaches a boil? Can a 12-week-old ...
Psychedelics are touted as a mental health cure. We should be wary
No psychiatric treatment has attracted quite as much cash and hype as psychedelics have in the past decade. Articles about ...
Biological resilience: How aging disrupts our ability to bounce back from stress
Feel like it takes longer to recover from everything these days—whether it’s an injury or poor sleep? That’s the reality of ...
No needles: At home no shot flu vaccine approved, should be available next year
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first flu vaccine that people can administer to themselves at home. The ...
‘Suicide pod’ used for the first time to assist a woman in dying.
The world’s first assisted suicide pod wraps around the human body like a space capsule, tilting gently toward the sky ...
‘We will be able to bring our son back’: Indian couple wins the right to their dead son’s frozen semen
A couple in India have said they are "delighted" after a court ordered a hospital to hand over the frozen ...
Americans’ average lifespan now sits at 78 years. Will we continue to live longer?
The oldest human on record, Jeanne Calment of France, lived to the age of 122. What are the odds that ...
From edible microrobot teeth cleaners to regenerating your teeth with a drug, the future of dentistry is poised to change
Imagine a world where you could regenerate a missing tooth with a single drug, and microrobots clean your teeth every ...
No good deed goes unpunished: Exxon faces California state suit for recycling 20% of its plastic
The Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which is funded by the Rockefeller Family Fund, published a report alleging that “Big Oil” deceived ...
Video: What is the science behind aphrodisiacs?
Aphrodisiacs are substances like foods or supplements believed to increase sexual desire and pleasure. While many believe in their effects, ...
Since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, strict state anti-abortion laws have led to the prosecution of hundreds of women for pregnancy-related crimes
In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s ...
Scientific fraud kills people — but it’s not illegal. What should be done?
[O]ne of the cases was when a woman delivered a stillborn baby at her home about six or seven months ...
Miracle therapy or courting danger? Weight-loss drugs are being touted as a potential cure of dozens of disorders
Animal studies and analyses of electronic health records suggest that the latest wave of weight-loss drugs — known as glucagon-like ...
‘We’ve not found evidence that Neanderthals wore clothes
Braving the cold weather in Northern Europe required Neanderthals to have robust bodies and a facility for making fire. But did ...
