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.
Technique for refining multi-source genomic data
A scientific team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Harvard, and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute says they have ...
Germline modification: Should people have the right to be disabled?
We're on the verge of using genetic therapy to remove the risk of disability in unborn children. Would doing so ...
Hacked relatives DNA information could expose your genetic secrets
The genetic information of hundreds of thousands of Britons could be revealed through ‘hacking’ into the DNA of their relatives ...
The IVF question: What to do with leftover embryos?
For those currently undergoing in vitro fertilization, the entire process can be complex – both medically and emotionally. In vitro ...
What generates greatness: Genes or guidance?
Is it training or talent that generates greatness? Have you every wondered why some people seem to naturally excel while ...
Scientists proposes naming all life forms according to genetics
A Virginia Tech researcher has developed a new way to classify and name organisms based on their genome sequence and ...
Matching dog DNA to droppings, to clean up Naples, Italy
Problems? Yes, conceded Tommaso Sodano, the vice mayor here, Naples has problems. Unpaid debts have reportedly topped $2 billion. Many ...
We should use genetic engineering to treat disease, not fundamentally alter future children
The mitochondrial manipulation that the FDA is considering would start us down the slippery slope toward human experimentation with unknown ...
Artificial muscles from yarn and fishing line
From humble parts – fishing line or nylon thread – researchers have produced artificial muscles that can lift 100 times ...
DNA screening helps find the best guide dogs
Researchers in Hokkaido have developed a way to test slight differences in the DNA of young dogs to screen their ...
Stress-induced stem cell method questioned
When a team led by investigators at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, reported a new method ...
DTC genetic testing companies need nudge to help patients understand results
The 23andMe controversy illustrates a stalemate over the role of direct-to-consumer genetic testing in American health care. On one side ...
Resurrecting an ancient protein that could cure human disease
While dinosaurs have not yet been resurrected Jurassic Park-style, scientists fiddling with ancient DNA sequences have made a discovery that ...
Switching genes on and off can change fate, theoretically anyhow
A Chennai-based researcher is part of team that has provided proof of the concept that turning on and turning off ...
Developing a test to predict prostrate cancer risk
DNA testing can predict which men face the highest risk of deadly prostate cancer, scientists say. The team at the ...
Obesity gene hysteria
Two new studies, just published online in JAMA Pediatrics, may have us fired up yet again about the genetic variation ...
Patients avoid thyroid surgery with help of gene test
Later this year, doctors in the U.S. will be able to use a gene test to guide thyroid cancer surgery ...
FDA asked to approve “three-parent” IVF
We don't know enough about embryonic development to know that IVF with mitochondrial DNA donors is a good idea ...
Promise of “easy” stem cells comes under investigation
Two breakthrough papers in Nature highlight a remarkable new technique for creating totipotent stem cells via a simple acid bath ...
Fear of holes many be evolutionary
If the sight of Swiss cheese makes you melt or the thought of a honeycomb gets you buzzing, you may ...
Genetic diversity down in Eurasian beaver, due to humans
Long-prized for their thick fur, the cuddly Eurasian beaver has been hunted by humans for thousands of years and a ...
Genetics linked to violent TV and video games
Exposing children to violent video games and T.V. programs has been a subject of debate over the past few decades ...
Humans and dogs evolved to listen for emotional cues
Dog and human brains turn out to be surprisingly similar, at least where communication and emotions are concerned, a new ...
Genetic switch controls muscles aging
It is a sad fact that old age brings diseases. Many may not be life-threatening, but they make life less ...
New strains of bird flu up risk for pandemic
Genetic variations in the deadly bird flu virus circulating in China increase the potential for a pandemic strain to emerge, ...
Genetics of being a daredevil
Watching participants in slopestyle and half-pipe skiing and snowboarding flip, curl, cartwheel and otherwise contort themselves in the air during ...
Is it wrong to try to breed out breast cancer?
Breast cancer is the latest disease being bred out of families through preimplantation genetic diagnosis – an embryo screening test ...
