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.
Space dust is full of DNA
A study of teeny-tiny meteorite fragments revealed that two essential components of life on Earth as we know it, could ...
Gay people are not genetic aberrations
The recent gay gene "finding" hasn't been peer reviewed, doesn't amount to much scientifically, and opens the door to the ...
Ancient genetics may lead to future treatment for gout
We're susceptible to gout because of a mutated gene in humans and other primates that prevents us from producing uricase, ...
Families hope anti-genetic engineering groups don’t stop gene cure for mitochondria disease
Hopes of tackling mitochondrial disease will be raised in a few weeks when the government announces regulations that will permit ...
DNA of basketball: Generation after generation of NBA All-Stars
For a growing number of fathers and sons, the N.B.A. is a family business. This season, 19 second-generation players have ...
We made love, not war, with Neanderthals
What does it mean to be part Neanderthal? We’ve known since 2010 that if you have any non-African ancestry you ...
Scientists edge closer to identifying bipolar risk genes
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have taken a major step toward identifying the specific genes that ...
DNA hunter Svante Pääbo takes us back to our roots
DNA, the stuff from which our genes are made, decays the moment an organism dies. The long coils break down ...
DNA tests could confirm find of Mona Lisa model’s remains
Italian experts are closing in on conclusive evidence of the identity of the sitter for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa ...
Fifty years later, dispute over who discovered Down Syndrome
It would have been a personal triumph for Marthe Gautier, an 88-year-old pediatric cardiologist and scientist living in Paris. On ...
Canada to match missing persons’ DNA against federal database
A pledge by the federal government to finally create a national DNA database for missing people is being cheered by ...
Treating macular degeneration with a patient’s own induced pluripotent stem cells
Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, more commonly called reprogrammed cells, start out as skin or other somatic (body) cells, zip ...
Will genetic sequencing lead to a new racism?
Advances in genetic sequencing are giving rise to a new era of scientific racism, despite decades of efforts to reverse ...
Ancient Native American DNA remains present ethical minefield
Sequencing the genome of an ancient Native American reveals more about American history, and underscores the difficult, delicate dance of ...
New bionic hand includes a sense of touch
Sensory feedback is what will turn future prostheses from tools into hands; a breakthrough bionic hand represents a first step ...
New evidence that being gay influenced by DNA
A study of gay men in the US has found fresh evidence that male sexual orientation is influenced by genes ...
Genetic markers that make couples work
Many things go into the mix to make a healthy relationship: Trust, understanding, a shared sense of humor and a ...
Genetic Atlas: Human history of moving around and fooling around
New statistical approaches are giving us our first real shot at pulling apart the genome to see when human populations ...
Biotech start-up targets Parkinson’s and ALS with new gene therapy
A Cambridge biotechnology company launching Wednesday is taking aim at Parkinson’s disease and ALS with a new gene therapy that ...
Company to offer workouts tailored to your genetics
Over the years, I’ve taken a quasi-scientific approach to fitness, trying a variety of exercise and nutrition regimens and analyzing ...
IBM’s Watson and DNA mapping to improve drug prescription process
Scott Megill hopes that his company can bridge the gap between physicians and geneticists and provide personalized patient predictions of ...
Study treats each person as his or her own experiment
What if we based decisions to exercise more, eat healthier or make other lifestyle changes to maintain our health on ...
Desire changes everything, and it’s genetic
Fairbanks, Alaska native Lance Mackey knew all about performance sled dogs, and nursed a burning desire to breed and race ...
Science inches toward science-fiction-style genetic augmentation
In 1953, molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick released what would be one of the most groundbreaking scientific discoveries ...
Study of chicken genetics might help in the fight against hunger and poverty in Africa
Animal science faculty members at Iowa State University are studying the genetic makeup of chickens in Africa in an effort ...
DNA can help guide your choice of life-saving drugs
Put yourself in the shoes of a psychiatrist. You just diagnosed a person with schizophrenia, and you can prescribe any ...
Ancestry of first Americans revealed by a boy’s genome
We may never know who the Anzick child was. Why he died, just 3 years old, in the foothills of ...
