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.
Ant caste is determined by DNA
The rank of an ant in its colony’s caste is now understood to be determined by genetics. Evolutionary biologists at ...
Many stem cell lines aren’t good enough for commercial use
Many of the stem cell lines used by academics and registered with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) would ...
Uzbekistan testing children for athletic potential
The idea of using genetic testing to spot future world-class athletes has been bandied about for years. Now, Uzbekistan hopes ...
Family thwarts genetic disease by narrowing the bloodline
Days before she ended her pregnancy, Joselin Linder was thrilled to imagine herself as a parent. Linder is not a ...
Acid bath stem cell method may work for human cells
Scientists may have used the newly-discovered environmental stress method for inducing pluripotency in human cells. This could change everything ...
The cross-species merger that made life as we know it possible
The transition from the classic prokaryotic, nucleus-free model to the deluxe eukaryotic one is arguably the most important event in ...
Genome sequencing: bringing people and their disease risks together
Last year, actress and activist Angelina Jolie made headlines when she wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times ...
General exonerations in the US increasing, DNA-based exonerations dropping
Eighty-seven — It seems like such a small number compared to the more than two million adults currently incarcerated in ...
About 1/3 of Americans don’t want genetic testing for cancer
Most Americans would consider undergoing genetic testing to predict their risk for certain cancers, but confusion persists over the benefits ...
International Cancer Genome Consortium releases data on 10k cancer genomes
The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) today announced that it has made available to the scientific community data from more ...
What’s it really like to work in biotech?
The life of a scientist in biotechnology is demanding, but there's a good chance that you could positively impact human ...
Brain science pioneer shifts focus of NIMH to basic neuroscience and genetics
Drain science pioneer Dr. Thomas R. Insel, now director of the National Institute of Mental Health, has sharply shifted the ...
Searching for invulnerability to cancer
In June 2013, I described how sequencing the highly abnormal genomes of cancer cells can identify some of the mutations ...
Humans shaped the horse’s gait, through genetics
A genetic mutation in horses that causes them to move with a gait that humans find desirable was spread to ...
Smartphone game seeks to cure cancer
Crowd-sourcing and video games come together in the fight against cancer as researchers release a game which will allow smartphone ...
Black Death altered European genes
The Black Death of the 14th century may be written into the DNA of survivors' descendants, new research finds. The ...
New York City student ancestry project to analyze DNA
“I’m part Neanderthal,” Rachel Bruton, a member of National Geographic’s Explorer Programs team, told Medical Daily. “I consider it bragging ...
Who should be able to access your genetic data?
Imagine having a child and knowing at birth what diseases he or she will face in life. Today, parents can ...
Genes predispose some toward violence
Brown university professor of political science Rose McDermott has a fascinating guest post over at Political Violence @ a Glance: ...
Ouch! Epigenetic changes dial your pain threshold up or down
If you flinch where others merely frown, you might want to take a look at your lifestyle. That's because environmental ...
Irish Supreme Court says motherhood is genes, not gestation
Motherhood can no longer be decided on the basis of giving birth but must be decided according to inheritable characteristics, ...
FDA should allow 23andMe to carry on
23andMe's genetic testing health results help people take ownership of their health and prompt them to make lifestyle adjustments (not ...
Neanderthal DNA traces found in African people
Call it humanity's unexpected U-turn. One of the biggest events in the history of our species is the exodus out ...
Americans both excited and worried by advances in DNA research
Most Americans are excited about the possibility of scientific breakthroughs brought by DNA research, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds. But ...
Sleeping too much, or not enough, increases genetic risk of depression
Two new studies published in the journal Sleep have found a link between sleep duration and depression. “Healthy sleep is ...
Epigenetic changes needed to regenerate nerves
To regenerate after injury, a nerve cell must turn on gene programs that have been silenced since development. Epigenetic modifications, ...
23andMe pushes on with genetic research
Researchers have gained more insight into the genetic risk factors for asthma with hay fever thanks to consumer genetic testing ...
