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.
Twins study sheds light on language development
A study of 473 sets of twins followed since birth found that compared to single-born children, 47 percent of 24-month-old ...
E. coli radiation resistance genes may aid cancer research
A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin has identified 46 genes in Escherichia coli that are necessary for its survival ...
Protein expression in aging brain linked to memory deficits
Even during healthy aging, we slowly lose our ability to learn and remember new things. Often, cognitive decline is associate with ...
Newly discovered virus modulates bacteria in gut, aids immune system
The most common viruses in your body don’t make you ill. Instead, they infect the legions of microbes that live in ...
Employing supercomputers in studying neurological conditions
Recent published research in the Journal of Clinical Investigationdemonstrates how changes in dopamine signaling and dopamine transporter function are linked to ...
Three-parent IVF policy in Britain raises ethical debate
Three parent babies born from a controversial IVF technique which uses the donor DNA to fix genetic defects will never ...
For Jamaican athletes, speediness is in the genes
Let's put political correctness aside: World class athletic ability is in the genes, and the success of Jamaican sprinting just ...
Genes reveal biological processes underlying schizophrenia
Scientists found more than 100 genes that make people more susceptible to schizophrenia- 83 of which have never been pinpointed ...
Is susceptibility to procrastination genetic?
Want to hear my favorite procrastination joke? I’ll tell you later. Piers Steel, a psychologist at the University of Calgary, ...
Artificial chip mimics bone marrow, generates platelets
Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed a scalable, next-generation platelet bioreactor to generate fully functional human platelets ...
Climate change driving diversity in seal population
Although climate change continues to stir up opportunities and challenges for animals across the world, new research published today in Nature shows the ups and ...
DNA replication model provides new tool for molecular geneticists
Human cells make new copies of their DNA billions of times each day, a crucial process upon which life itself ...
Promising new diabetes treatment overcomes negative side effects
In Type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system destroys the cells that produce insulin, leaving your body unable to make ...
Raising the dead: ‘De-extinction’ science could lead to rescue of threatened wildlife
Philip Seddon, zoologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand, addresses the fears of regenerating species as a tactic ...
Largest-ever genetic study of schizophrenia cements genetic links
By identifying more than 100 new distinct genetic regions associated with schizophrenia, an international team of hundreds of scientists may ...
Q&A illuminates the ‘golden age’ of memory science
When it comes to the study of memory, we might be living in something of a golden age. Researchers are ...
Three-parent IVF possibly to begin next year in Britain
New regulations to allow mitochondrial DNA transfer will now be put before parliament following a three month consultation. If passed, ...
Survey says majority of Americans ‘unaware’ of personalized medicine
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – A significant majority of Americans are not familiar with personalized medicine, but when told how it ...
World’s happiest nations are genetically similar to Denmark
In 2013, the United Nations' World Happiness Report listed Denmark as the country with the highest levels of happiness. Now, ...
Q&A illuminates the ‘golden age’ of memory science
When it comes to the study of memory, we might be living in something of a golden age. Researchers are ...
Q&A illuminates the ‘golden age’ of memory science
When it comes to the study of memory, we might be living in something of a golden age. Researchers are ...
Tallying the supercentenarians
The recent death of 111 year old Alexander Imich highlighted the difficulties in keeping track of the world's oldest people, ...
Snipping HIV out of the genome
Like other retroviruses, the genetic material of HIV wedges itself into the genome of its human host. While antiretroviral therapies ...
Elephants can attribute superior smell to genes
Compared with 13 other mammal species studied, African elephants have the most genes related to smell: 2,000. That’s the most ever ...
Are environmental pollutants causing heritable disease?
Michael Skinner, a professor of biology at Washington State University, ignited a firestorm of debate in 2005 when he and ...
Heritability of autism may be greater than previously thought
Autism, researchers agree, is caused by a mix of genetic and environmental factors. At this point, however, consensus dissolves. Views differ, ...
Handy genome-editing fact sheet
Genome editing comprises a range of molecular techniques that allow targeted changes to be made to the genomes of organisms ...
