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.
Being a good Samaritan could be influenced by genetics
Everyone knows the biblical parable of the good Samaritan. A new study suggests that a single variation in a specific ...
Epigenetics: How to alter your genes
For decades we’ve all been told: you are what you eat. You are what you drink. You are how much, ...
Inside 23andme founder Anne Wojcicki’s $99 DNA revolution
There's a lot you can do for your child with 99 dollars. I took that money and got my daughter's ...
“Find and Replace” across an entire genome
It couldn’t be easier to make sweeping edits on a computer document. If I were so inclined, I could find ...
Gene and stem cell therapy could speed up wound healing
Even though there are effective medications and therapy for healing wounds, the recovery process can still be slow. In a ...
Craig Venter working on device that could send DNA over the internet
Craig Venter, who created the world’s first synthetic life, is working on a “DNA box” that could transport genetic sequences ...
Tangled ethics of preimplantation genetic testing
During her third summer of life, my oldest daughter had three broken bones - a broken arm in June, a ...
Gene therapy trial: Virus could help damaged hearts
Some days 50-year-old David Palmer can barely get out of bed and walk to the bathroom as his heart is ...
Data-driven medicine: understanding the link between genetics and disease
From Google to Facebook and GCHQ to the NSA, every day we hear more about the lengths to which organizations ...
Talking with kids about genetics
Last week, I had the opportunity to talk with a group of students from Grandview Heights School in Edmonton, Canada. The ...
Post Supreme Court ruling, Quest to offer genetic test for breast cancer risk
Quest Diagnostics Inc on Tuesday became the largest U.S. company to start offering gene-based tests for inherited forms of breast ...
There’s much more to IQ than biology and DNA
Genetics doesn't matter more than teaching. Nature doesn't matter more than nurture does. They both contribute to intelligence ...
Some people are genetically predisposed to spot danger
A new study from the University of British Columbia has found more than half of people are genetically predisposed to ...
Scientific first: 46-million-year-old mosquito, filled with blood
No real life scientist has ever even found a fossilized mosquito bloated with blood. In fact, the odds of that ...
MicroRNAs may fight the spread of cancer
Researchers at Princeton University have found that microRNAs — small bits of genetic material capable of repressing the expression of ...
How climate change is causing species to evolve
Researchers in the new field of "landscape genetics" find that global warming is causing effects that spur species to evolve ...
Scientist find living genetic relatives of ancient iceman
No next-of-kin was around to claim the frozen 5,300-year-old body of Ötzi the Iceman when it was found in the ...
Gene variant predicts how helpful you are, researcher suggests
People's willingness to help others may be influenced by a gene that affects their level of social anxiety, according to ...
DNA testing on your smartphone just a download away
Genetic sequencing is no longer for the uber-wealthy and uber-patient: If a decade ago it cost $3 billion and took ...
DNA study shows herbal products not always what they appear to be
DNA barcoding revealed that sixty percent of herbal products tested contained DNA from plant species not included on the label ...
Crowdfunding appeal for longevity research
Give me a quick overview of your experiment? What is going to happen with this mouse? Daniel Wuttke: We have ...
Letting go of your own “leftover” IVF embryos
In a few days a big part of our lives will be no more. For the past six years our ...
Sequencing genomes of entire microcosmic ecosystems
Viruses are the most abundant entities on the planet—and among the most mysterious. Mya Breitbart, a microbial ecologist at the ...
Creationists pit genetics and evolution against one another
Evolution and genetics are "two very closely interwoven disciplines," as the Genetics Society of America observes, so it is difficult ...
Do your genes influence who you love?
Imagine a dating site where, in addition to a completed survey, you have to submit a genetic profile. This could ...
Engineered mice show jet lag could become a thing of the past
Scientists have discovered a genetic mechanism that regulates the effects of jet lag. While a cure for the disorder is ...
Genetics offers key inisghts to how to educate children
Education in England is no better than mediocre, and billions of pounds have been wasted on pointless university courses and ...
